People now believe that the ability to lose more weight does not merely depend on a restricted calorie diet or the extent of physical activity.
Losing weight is a complex process, affected by multiple internal and external factors.
One such factor could be your genetic makeup.
Weight loss DNA tests can help explore weight loss/weight gain traits and understand why it’s difficult for some people to lose weight. Â
How Do Genes Influence Your Body Weight?
Genes can contribute to body weight in different ways.
A combination of multiple genes and their functioning may be one of the primary reasons some people lose weight quickly, and others find it challenging.
Studies show that more than 400 genes are responsible for determining body weight. These genes may do one or more of the following tasks.
- Increase or decrease your satiety levels after a meal
- Control where fats deposit in the body after a meal
- Determine how much of your blood glucose you use for energy
- Affect food cravings
- Control how your body responds to stress
- Regulate your general relationship with food
- Increase risk of health conditions associated with weight gain
You may have the perfect weight loss plan in place. However, your genetic makeup influences how effective or practical the method is in helping you shed weight.
Nutrigenomics and Weight Loss
Nutrigenomics studies how nutrition and genes interact and affect a person’s health.
Many health experts are looking to explore nutrigenomics instead of simply advising their patients to stay away from carb or fat diets or work out more if they want to lose weight.
Nutrigenomics is based on the idea that nutrients interact with individual genetic characteristics and up-regulate or down-regulate the metabolic pathways.
Your metabolic pathways include a set of chemical reactions that process these nutrients, break down, and convert them into forms used by or stored in the body.
Thanks to nutrigenomics, two people can eat the same food but experience different effects in the body concerning fat deposition and weight gain.
Genes, Fitness, and Weight Loss
Fitness levels and rate of physical activity are as important as nutrition in helping lose weight.
A person’s genes could be a significant factor affecting a person’s weight in the following scenarios.
- The person has been overweight/obese most of their life.
- The individual has first-line relatives who are obese or overweight.
- The person cannot lose weight even with the proper diet and physical activity changes for an extended period.
A new study shows that a person’s genes could explain up to 72% of differences in outcome in different people taking up similar kinds of physical activity.
A and B could be doing similar exercises at the gym. However, due to their genetic makeup, A may lose weight quicker and more consistently than B.
It makes sense to understand your genetic predisposition and choose workout regimes best suited for your body type if you want to lose weight and maintain the same long-term.
How Does Weight Loss DNA Test Work?
DNA testing for weight loss is a relatively new concept, gathering interest globally.
Such tests can tell a person how their body is processing food or how they may respond to different fitness regimes.
These tests are usually available as mail-order kits.
You can place an order, receive the kit, collect your DNA sample and mail it back to the company.
The company will analyze your DNA and get back to you with the results in a few weeks.
These results usually include a detailed analysis of how a person’s body reacts to different types of nutrition and recommendations to help lose weight.
Most of these tests would recommend something called a DNA diet.
DNA diet is customized for the person based on their genetic makeup.
Such a diet could increase the person’s chances of losing weight.
It would also alert the person on the possible diets and food choices that could lead to weight gain.
The Benefits of Genetic Testing for Weight Loss
Clearly, weight loss depends on more than a calorie-restricted diet and physical activity.
Some people could lose weight by eating fat, while others could accelerate weight loss with a specific exercise regime.
Genetic test results will help understand how every person’s body reacts to diet and physical activity and help build a customized food and fitness regime that would work effectively.
Many people struggle with obesity or excessive weight gain all their life.
For such individuals, a DNA diet and planned physical activity based on genetic makeup may help bring effective results.
Obesity and the tendency to gain weight could lead to health complications too.
Genetic testing for weight loss could help avoid these problems over time.
The Drawbacks
Weight loss DNA tests may not provide ground-breaking solutions in the following cases.
- Your weight gain is due to identifiable factors like a bad lifestyle or an unhealthy diet.
- You can lose weight by following a clean and healthy lifestyle.
- Your weight gain has resulted from a specific change in your lifestyle/life.
- You have been in the healthy body mass index range in the past.
DNA testing for weight only tells you if you have a genetic predisposition to gain weight. You will still need to make all the right efforts and give it time to lose weight.
What Is The Best DNA Test For Weight Loss?
In the last decade, many companies have started offering direct-to-consumer genetics tests.
While many of these companies specialize in genetic ancestry tests, only a handful of them offers nutrition and fitness genetic tests.
- Xcode Life
About Xcode Life’s Gene Nutrition Report
About Xcode Life’s Gene Fitness Report
- DNAFit
- Genomepalate
- Vitagene
Weight Loss Doesn’t Begin and End With A DNA Test
Getting DNA testing for weight is only half the battle won for people with a high genetic predisposition to weight gain.
The person will need professional help analyzing the results and planning a diet and workout regime that would work for them well.
Such a regime will need to be followed throughout life to stay fit and prevent regaining the lost weight.
Also, whether or not a person is genetically inclined to gain weight, other factors like lack of sleep, stress, mental health issues, and habits like smoking can contribute equally to weight gain.
All these need to be altered if you want to lose weight and stay in a healthy BMI range.
Summary
- People’s ability to lose weight depends on multiple factors, including their genetic makeup.
- Weight loss DNA tests can help understand why a person cannot lose weight, even after following a calorie-restricted diet, a healthy lifestyle, and ample physical activity.
- A person’s genes may affect their satiety levels, food cravings, metabolism levels, and general relationship with food.
- DNA tests analyze how a person’s genes affect their Body Mass Index and suggest what kind of food and activity works best for them.
- Xcode Life offers two DNA tests for weight – Gene Nutrition and Gene Fitness and both may help people with a genetic predisposition to gain weight.
- DNA testing may not be for those whose weight gain is caused by non-genetic factors like an unhealthy lifestyle, bad diet choices, or the use of certain drugs.
