The statistics are simply astounding.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report 66 percent of adults in the United States are overweight and 17 percent of our kids are, too. Another 40 million adults are obese and three million are morbidly obese. Eight out of every 10 Americans over the age of 25 are overweight.

As a result, rates of disease related to overweight and obesity have skyrocketed in recent years.

About 20 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, a disease worsened by inactivity and being overweight. Heart disease continues to be the leading killer of both men and women in the United States today -- an estimated 70 percent of cases of cardiovascular disease are related to obesity. Forty-two percent of breast and colon cancers are diagnosed in obese individuals, 30 percent of gall bladder surgery is reportedly related to obesity and 26 percent of obese patients have high blood pressure.

It's not about appearance anymore -- America's rapid weight gain is costing us our health and our lives.

There's been much debate on the root cause of obesity. Is it a disease just like any other? Is it a lifestyle choice? Or is it, as many argue, out of one's hands and predetermined at birth? New research suggests it may be.

The FTO gene has been linked to obesity and some say it can help explain why some people easily put on weight while people who make similar lifestyle decisions stay slim.

In 2007, British scientists discovered when people inherited one version of the FTO gene rather than another, they are 70 percent more likely to be obese. These people have 15 percent more body fat than those without the genetic make-up and weigh an average of 6.6 pounds more than those without it.

"If you do have the FTO gene, it does put you at risk for becoming obese and having Type 2 diabetes and extra body fat," Emily Rubin, R.D., weight loss dietitian at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Penn., told Ivanhoe.

Leptin is a protein hormone involved in regulating energy intake and expenditure, including the decrease of appetite and increase of metabolism.

Although leptin is a circulating signal that reduces appetite, in general, obese people have an unusually high circulating concentration of leptin. These people are said to be resistant to the effects of leptin, similar to the way people with diabetes are resistant to insulin. Obesity then develops when people take in more energy than they use over a prolonged period of time. For these obese people, this excess food intake is not driven by hunger signals. Rather, the excess intake is occurring in spite of the anti-appetite signals from leptin.

Additional Resource:

Leslie Capo
LSU Health Sciences Center
(504) 568-4809
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (800) 533-3669