Evolution Too Made Humans Obese, Suggests Study

Obesity is generally linked to lifestyle issues and lack of physical activities, but a new study has suggested that evolution too has made humans more obese than before.

In recent research published in journal Genome Biology and Evolution, researchers found that apart from the lifestyle-related obesity, evolution too played a role in increasing the amount of fat in the human bodies.    

While conducting the scientific study, researchers compared fat samples of humans with other primates. They concluded that changes in DNA packaging led to the alteration of the body fat process.    

Although the DNA sequences of chimps are closely associated with humans, over the course of evolution they choose different paths when it came to packaging DNA inside their fat cells. The researchers found that the change in the process of DNA packaging decreased the human body’s ability to convert bad calorie-storing fat and hence leads to more deposition of this fat.    

Further, animals normally carry nine per cent of body fat whereas healthy humans even with six-pack abs have a body fat of minimum 14 to 31 per cent. The research cited that it is the inability of humans to convert bad white fat into good brown which has increased the body fat and found that in animals, this machinery was working without any problem and hence body fat was found low.   

In the human body, fat plays an important role in storing energy in the adipose tissue which the body can utilise in future. It also helps in absorbing nutrients and production of vital hormones.    

Although, the study suggests that evolution too played a role in increasing obesity in humans but lifestyle factors like food-habits, smoking, drinking etc., are still the major contributors for turning human fat.