Is DNA to Blame for Over Eating?

We all know that some of us naturally have smaller appetites than others.  I know my own for instance, tend to ebb and flow, especially depending on the day.  I think that my appetite has a lot to do with my hormones that day.  For instance, when I’m PMS’ing, about one week before my period, my appetite is so out of control that I feel like no amount of food will satisfy me, and I feel like I’m constantly stuffing my face, and it’s also really not the best stuff I’m stuffing it with.  But then, when my period actually comes and I’m on it (hormones drifting away), I feel like I could go hours without eating, or with eating very little, which is very unlike my normally voracious self.

Some people think that appetite has to do with your DNA. I happen to agree that this is part of your appetite, but a lot of it is also your upbringing, your particular eating habits and the foods you eat since the food you eat actually dictates your appetite in part iself, and also your moods (which is directly connected to your hormones).

All of it is interconnected. And now, there is evidence that there may be groups of people who are missing particular chunks of DNA which are a sort of appetite suppressant. In other words, these chunks of DNA are the switches which turn off our appetites when our bodies know that we’ve had enough to eat.

This is obviously an important function, and appetite is a huge function that is performed largely by the brain center called the hypothalamus.  The children who have been found to be lacking these particular chunks of DNA which we are talking about tend to get very obese early on in life because their appetite is literally always “on” and they have no off button. So they end up eating inordinate amounts of food all the time.

And although we all know that kids have naturally higher energy levels and also burn calories at a higher rate because their metabolisms are still naturally higher, these children don’t stand a fighting chance because they are consuming so many calories that their body could not possibly burn them off to keep them at a normal, healthy weight.  Also, obesity leads to sitting a lot, because larger people have a harder time performing activities since it’s harder on the body and heart, so you have a recipe for obesity disaster in these kids that are lacking this DNA.

The whole problem is that the elimination of this DNA creates a communication problem between the brain and the hormone leptin, which controls hunger and induces satiety so you stop eating. Without the particular chromosomes these kids are lacking, the brain cannot communicate with the leptin, and that is why these kids cannot shut off their appetites, and why they get obese.