The lifestyle you choose can either lessen or increase your genetic tendency for obesity.
A new study found that sedentary people have a higher genetic disposition to obesity, while those who are just slightly active cut the risk in half.
"This is the first study that directly looked at the effect of the sedentary behavior of television watching on the body mass index (BMI) of individuals with a genetic predisposition to obesity," said study author Qibin Qi at a conference by the American Heart Association this week in San Diego, California.
To combat the results, Qi said a one-hour daily walk "reduced the genetic influence towards obesity, measured by differences in BMI by half."
The study involved 7,740 women and 4,564 men, with researchers collecting data on their physical activity and TV watching two years prior to assessing their BMI.
The average American watches television for about four to six hours each day, noted Qi.
The BMI indicator is the ratio of weight in kilograms (pounds) to square of height in meters (inches) -- on this scale, a score of 30 or more is considered obese.
The genetic effect on BMI was seen as "more pronounced in people who spent 40 hours a week watching television than those who spent an hour or less, 0.34 versus 0.08 kg/m2," according to the study.
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