2007 may be the year of vindication for fat people.

First a study at UCLA declares that diets don’t work and what is worse, are actually harmful to your health.

Now scientists announce they have discovered a “fat” gene which explains why two people leading similar lifestyles could have disparate amounts of weight. Talk to any overweight person and they will tell you they know of thin people who eat as much or more than they do and yet stay thin. Society has always chalked this up to overweight meaning lazy, but now the evidence says that is not the case.

The scientists discovered the gene, known as FTO and say the influence on the gene in weight depends on whether a person has one or two copies of the FTO gene variant. FTO is known to play a role in the hypothalamus which regulates appetite.

16% of the population have two copies of the high-risk gene, and weigh nearly 7 pounds more than those without it. Those with only one copy were found to weigh about 2.6 pounds more than those who did not have the gene variant at all.

Research into the gene variant and its effects may lead scientists one day to discover better treatments and methods for dealing with obesity.

For overweight people everywhere, it may relieve some of the guilt to know that what is in their jeans, may be in their genes.

A Common Variant in the FTO Gene Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Predisposes to Childhood and Adult Obesity

Anyone who has been on a diet knows the hard work of counting calories, fat and carbs – and sometimes the sacrificing of flavor for function as we eat whole bran and dry fat-free cardboard food. The worst part about dieting is that nearly all people who manage to lose weight don’t succeed in keeping it off – in most cases the weight returns and sometimes dieters regain more than they lost.

A study at UCLA found that only a small minority of dieters consistently kept the weight off after losing it. Researchers also say that the yo-yo of losing and gaining weight may be linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and altered immune function. The researchers concluded that many people would have been better off had they not gone on a diet at all.

Although a number of diets will work in the short term, researchers found that the largest predictor of future weight gain was whether or not the individual had recently lost weight on a diet.

According to Traci Mann, UCLA associate professor of psychology and lead author of the study, the evidence suggests that exercise, not dieting, may be the key to maintaining weight loss.

“Eating in moderation is a good idea for everybody, and so is regular exercise,” Mann said. “That is not what we looked at in this study. Exercise may well be the key factor leading to sustained weight loss. Studies consistently find that people who reported the most exercise also had the most weight loss.”

Dieting Does Not Work, UCLA Researchers Report

If you’re sticking to your diet, you might not be sticking to your budget. A study in the March issue of the Journal of Consumer Research indicates that people who have exercised self-control in some other area are more prone to make impulse purchases.

People need self-regulatory control to avoid impulse buying but if their resources of self-control are depleted by something else, like a new exercise or diet program, they are less likely to be able to muster the sales resistance necessary.

So, if your husband wants to know why you bought so much at the mall, just tell him “I’m dieting”.

On a diet? You’ll spend more on impulse purchases

In this weight-conscious world, we are beset with numbers and formulas for optimum weight and health. Body Mass Index, or BMI, has been held as a standard for determining if you are overweight and face health risks from increased body fat. But calculating your BMI (body mass index) does not always give you a true measurement of your amount of body fat.

Research done by a team from Michigan State University and Saginaw Valley State University measured the BMI of 400 college students and found that in many cases, it was an inaccurate measurement of total body fat.

BMI doesn’t distinguish between muscle mass and fat mass. It is simply a mathematical equation using height and weight. A bodybuilder, for example, carries a lot of pounds in the form of muscle but according to BMI measurments would be overweight.

Of course, I would love to have that excuse – “It’s not fat, it’s muscle” – but alas, my doctor is unlikely to be convinced. They both bulge, but muscle doesn’t spill out over the waist of your slacks. It’s worth a shot, though. I mean, the research is out there…

Read the article at MSU

BMI calculator from National Institutes of Health