Today’s The Straits Times has an article titled “FAT? Blame your genes”. It is reported that scientist has identified the presence of a certain "FTO" genes in the body is more likely to be obese.
Many readers may be confused, does that mean that the general advice to exercise to keep fit and trim is useless since its genetic anyway. But many have observed that their friends obviously lost "kgs" after diligently committing to an healthy eating and exercise routine. Are these scientist in the “real world”. How can we we reconcile this?
The subjects under the study of the scientist are usually of very obese nature. These are usually subjects whom are obese from young, and stays obese no matter what they eat/don’t eat, exercise/don’t exercise. These are generally known to be likely genetic causes. There is another group that is obese by choice, that is, they eat excessively or wrongly, and hardly exercises. For this group of people, if they choose to eat and live healthy, most of the time they do see significant improvements to their health.
Myopia has a lot of similarity to obesity. We see patients who are already -7.0D(700 degrees) at the age of 3 or 4. Some children needs glasses even before primary school despite their parents being very conscientious on their eyecare habits. There are also those whose eyesight are spoilt due to their lifestyle choice of excessive nearwork. And there are also lucky few whom can engage in computer games 8 – 9 hours a day and yet maintains a perfect eyesight! Both genetics and lifestyle plays a part in myopia.
How do we know which category we fall into?
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