Role of non genetic factors
Before commenting on the role of genetics in obesity, one must keep in mind that only a small percentage of children carry genetic defects for obesity and the factors other than genetic play a key role in making a child obese. Unfortunately, most of the people don’t realize the bad influence of these factors and keep emphasizing upon the genetic factors responsible for childhood obesity.
One of the many none-genetic causes of obesity in childhood is the imbalance between the input energy (food) and the output energy (exercise). The children who keep on taking nutrients at irregular intervals without utilizing or consuming the input energy in some physical or mechanical work get bulky in short period of time. This fact is not confined only to younger children but is applicable to all age-groups as well. Whenever your input is greater than your output, you get over weight and vice versa.
It is also frequently observed that obese children actually take in lesser number of calories as compared to those taken in by a thinner child, but they utilize less calories in terms of doing some physical work. The thinner child who has taken in greater amount of calories also consumes greater amount of them in doing some laborious work. As a result of all this, the obese child gets more bulky while the thinner one remains slim and smart. Here, there is no genetics involved in all this input and output energy. It is all concerned with the human thinking and conduct which varies from person to person. One can overcome this non-genetic but behavioral problem by keeping in mind this very fact all the time that diet and physical activity are susceptible to behavior modification and the first step towards solving this problem of obesity is weight awareness. When one becomes conscious of one’s overweight, one must try to reduce it intentionally by improving one’s behavior towards the balance between input and output of energy.
Role of genetic factors
In addition to the above said non-genetic or behavioral factors, some genetic factors are also involved in childhood obesity which include both hormonal causes and genetic syndroms.
Hormonal causes
It must be kept in mind that all the genes for controlling different factors leading to obesity are mostly recessive and hence, express themselves intensely if they do so at all. Anyhow the most common hormonal cause is Hypothyroidism in which thyroxin is not secreted profusely by the thyroid glands and the blood thyroxine level decreases which causes obesity. Another important hormonal cause is the Hypocortisolism which is characterized by 24-hour free urinary cartisol level. This in turn leads to obesity. Primary Hyperinsulinism is still another hormonal cause of obesity due to genetic defects which expresses itself when plasma insulin increases in blood. This very factor increases the C-peptide level of the victim. Moreover Pseudo hypoparathyroidism involves the increased PTH (Parathyroid Hormone) level in the blood which causes the malfunctioning of many body organs and systems. All this leads to obesity.
Genetic syndroms
There are three notable genetic syndroms responsible for obesity in childhood. First one is Prader-wills which causes sever obesity and unsatiable appetite. Here, the wills present in the small intestine lose their normal functioning of absorption and assimilation of digested food particles into the blood. Alstrom is another syndrom which causes not only obesity but deafness and Diabetes Millitus as well due to the abnormal functioning of Islets of Langerhans in pancreas. The third genetic syndrom responsible for obesity is Cohen which causes both obesity and mental retardation in the unfortunate victim of this syndrom.
Conclusion
Based on the above mentioned facts, one can conclude that both genetic and non-genetic factors are strongly responsible for obesity and one should be conscious and ready to face any type manfully and sensibly, for it is also a fact that obesity, after all, is controllable.
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