A new study out of the University of Texas has projected that within five years doctors will design diets based on the genetic make-up of individual patients.
According to UPI, the research, which was published in the journal Obesity, analyzes the relationship between genetics, behavior, and weight-related diseases in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how genetics might affect an individual’s ability to gain or lose weight.
The research indicates that several genes are potential involved with weight loss. Our knowledge is still incomplete, however.
For example, one gene has been discovered that causes energy from food to be stored as fat instead of energy — clearly a piece of the weight loss puzzle that might probe itself to be integral to our growing understanding of the relationship between genetics and weight loss. However, the study concluded that this gene and how it interacts with other genes can vary from person to person.
“When people hear the genes may be playing a role in their weight loss success, they don’t say, ‘Oh great, I just won’t exercise anymore,” said Molly Bray, a geneticist and professor of nutritional science at the University of Texas Austin. “They actually say ‘Oh thank you. Finally someone acknowledges that it’s harder work for me than it is for others.'”
Other genes related to weight loss have been identified, though how they work together to affect weight on the whole remains a mystery.
Dr. Bray said that further data collection on weight gain and loss, as well as further research into the most efficient ways to collect this data, will help the study.
“I think within five years, we’ll see people start to use a combination of genetic, behavioral and other sophisticated data to develop individualized weight management plans,” said Bray.
Though Bray speculates that customized, gene-based weight loss techniques might become standard in about five years, the researchers said that better analytical tools and access to more data might shave some time off of that projection.