According to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it doesn't really matter how many Nutty Bars your parents packed into your carb-loaded lunch. It's their damn genetics that made it so those Nutty Bars go straight to your ass, gut and thighs.
A study of more than 5,000 pairs of twins has found that a child's risk of becoming overweight is mostly down to nature, not nurture. The research into children aged between eight and 11 showed that the variation in a child's body mass index and waist circumference was 77% attributable to genes and 23% to the environment in which they grow up.
Overweight children are more likely to become overweight or obese adults, a condition that can contribute to ill health and increased cancer risk in later life. The results are published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"This study shows that it is wrong to place all the blame for a child's excessive weight gain on the parents; it is more likely to be due to the child's genetic susceptibility," said Jane Wardle of University College London.
Can't we at least blame them for their bad genes? Also (on a slightly unrelated note) why is it that everyone in our family is a D-cup, and we're, well.. damn, what we wouldn't give for a Nutty Bar right now. Sigh.
[Guardian Unlimited: US study finds genetic link to child obesity]
[Image via Babble]