Giles Yeo on how our genes can make us fat

The Life Scientific

BBC

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Science

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many of us think we’re in control of what we eat and that, coupled with what we do, dictates our shape and size. It’s physics after all - if you eat too much and move too little, you put on weight; do the opposite, and you lose it. Genes, the theory goes, have minimal if any effect on our size.

But what if we’re wrong? What if our genes have a powerful influence over how we put on weight, and why many struggle to lose it?

Over the past two decades, this once controversial idea has gained acceptance and has inspired the work of Giles Yeo. His research on the genetics of obesity at Cambridge University reveals the powerful ways in which our genes, which function within our brains, influence our eating behaviour.

These genes are far better suited to times of food scarcity. Fast forward to the modern diet, packed with sugar and fat, and our genetic makeup quickly becomes a recipe for disaster.

Producer: Beth Eastwood

Transcript

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0:31.4	BBC Sounds. B. C Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:37.0	Welcome to the podcast of the Life Scientific.
0:40.0	Many of us think we were in control of what we eat and that this coupled with what we do
0:45.7	dictates our shape and size. It's physics after all. If you eat too much and move too little
0:51.6	you put on weight. Do the opposite and you lose it.
0:54.4	Genes, the theory goes, have minimal if any effect on our weight. But what if we're wrong?
1:00.9	What if our genes have a powerful influence over how we put on weight and why many
1:05.9	struggle to lose it. Over the past two decades this once controversial idea has
1:11.2	gained acceptance and has inspired the work of my guest today.
1:15.0	Giles Yew studies the genetics of obesity at Cambridge University
1:20.0	revealing the powerful ways in which our genes that function within our brains influence our eating behavior.
1:26.8	These genes, it turns out, are better suited to times of food scarcity.
1:31.7	Fast forward to the modern diet packed with sugar and fat and our genetic
1:36.4	makeup quickly becomes a recipe for disaster. Being obese, says Giles, is the natural highly evolved response to our 21st century environment.
	...

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