Fat Genes: Flawed Logic in New Research Fad

Go Ahead, Drink Bacon Grease for Breakfast

At long last, doctors have discovered a series of genes implicated in obesity, the so-called fat genes. When I heard this I had to immediately rush out to see the actual health report and to check the spelling.

You see, I know all about fat jeans. My neighbor has a pair, and they're a size 64.

Imagine that: Our genes are making us fat , not gross inactivity and an excess of calories from fatty, processed foods. One gene is called Sar1b; another is called GAD2, as in "egad, I eat too much." There are a slew of others, too, such as PPARgamma. Scientists are banging out reports about these as if they were Steven King novels, one after another, each scarier and more hastily written than the one before. Big bucks are to be had for the creator of the anti-obesity pill.

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There's the Yankee Stadium approach: The baseball franchise redesigned the House that Ruth Built with wider seats to better accommodate our fat backsides.
There's the genetic approach: Search for a gene that probably has multiple, important functions and disable it so we can eat a bowl of cookie dough with no adverse weight gain.
Or there's the boring, inexpensive option: Eat right and exercise.

Christopher Wanjek is a Live Science contributor and a health and science writer. He is the author of three science books: Spacefarers (2020), Food at Work (2005) and Bad Medicine (2003). His "Food at Work" book and project, concerning workers' health, safety and productivity, was commissioned by the U.N.'s International Labor Organization. For Live Science, Christopher covers public health, nutrition and biology, and he has written extensively for The Washington Post and Sky & Telescope among others, as well as for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where he was a senior writer. Christopher holds a Master of Health degree from Harvard School of Public Health and a degree in journalism from Temple University.