Persons with a higher genetic risk of obesity need to work out harder than those of moderate or low genetic risk to avoid becoming obese, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) paper published in JAMA Network Open.
Study authors used activity, clinical and genetic data from the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program to explore the association of genetic risk of higher body mass index and the level of physical activity needed to reduce incident obesity.
Included in the study were 3,124 middle-aged participants without obesity who owned a Fitbit device and walked an average of 8,326 steps per day for a median of more than 5 years. The incidence of obesity over the study period increased from 13% to 43% in the lowest and highest polygenic risk score groups.
Individuals with a polygenic risk score in the 75th percentile would need to walk an average of 2,280 more steps per day (a total of 11,020 steps per day) than those in the 50th percentile to have a comparable risk of obesity, according to the study.
Persons with a baseline BMI of 22, 24, 26 and 28 who were in the 75th percentile of polygenic risk score would need to walk an additional 3,460, 4,430, 5,380 and 6,350 steps per day, respectively, to have a comparable risk of obesity to persons in the 25th percentile.
