Do you have the fat gene? This test could soon tell you

Telegraph

27-04-2025

For some, it can seem like a never-ending battle to keep the pounds off. Where friends and family appear able to indulge with little consequences, there are those who feel like, no matter how healthily they eat, the scales just keep going up.
Scientists now think people who struggle with their weight may have drawn the genetic short-straw – and soon people will be able to find out if their genes are to blame for the struggle.
Work has begun in the UK on developing new tests that will spot if someone has 'fat genes'. The project, which seeks to create simple blood or saliva tests, is being undertaken by a team at Oxford gene start-up Genomics and Novo Nordisk, the Danish drug giant behind blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy and Ozempic.
The tests are expected to work by identifying if someone has the differences in their DNA that make them more prone to obesity.
Sir Peter Donnelly, chief executive of Genomics, said genetics is 'four times more important than lifestyle factors' when it comes to mapping if someone will become obese.
Studies have suggested that somebody with unhelpful genetics is around 10 times more likely to be obese in middle age than someone with helpful genes.
It can mean those people with these obesity genes have to work much harder to keep on top of their weight.
Research in the US has found that someone with 'unhelpful genetics' would have to walk 10,000 more steps than someone with 'helpful genetics' to maintain a healthy weight.
Sir Peter said: 'There's not a single gene which matters for obesity or for heart disease or other diseases. There are more than a million places in our DNA, each of which has a tiny impact on our propensity for obesity.'
Scientists from Genomics will create an algorithm that can accurately map which DNA differences are most important in determining someone's likelihood of becoming obese. The team says they expect to launch tests within the next few years.
Sir Peter said change was needed over how people view obesity, adding: 'We have to start thinking about obesity as a condition, rather than some consequence of poor willpower.'
It comes as governments step up attempts to tackle the obesity crisis amid concerns that more people are becoming severely overweight. Figures released last month revealed that more than three in four adults in the UK will be obese or overweight by 2050.
Nadeem Sarwar, who heads up Novo Nordisk's 'transformational prevention unit', said the UK could be a pioneer in tackling obesity by stopping it before the disease progresses.
Novo Nordisk recently set up the 'transformational prevention unit' (TPU), which is anchored in the UK, to 'predict, pre-empt and prevent' obesity.
Alongside the tests for obesity, Novo Nordisk is also seeking to develop treatments that can then be targetted to those who test positive for fat genes.
Mr Sarwar said: 'Just telling someone, 'You're high risk for disease, good luck' is not really going to help them that much. So at the TPU, we're putting in as much effort on developing products that will help prevent the risk as much as we are to pre-empt the risk.'
Wes Streeing, the Health Secretary, has said he wants to shift the NHS's focus from 'sickness to prevention'. Already, the Government has clamped down on junk food ads in an attempt to curb obesity levels, saying the disease costs the NHS billions of pounds every year.
Mr Sarwar said: 'The UK, I think rightly, is emphasising the importance of prevention.'
Novo Nordisk is developing more preventative treatments for obesity as competition heats up in the weight-loss market.
Up until this point, Novo Nordisk has been outselling US rival Eli Lilly for its weight-loss treatments, which help people lose an average of 15pc of their body mass by suppressing appetite.
However, the two companies have been battling to break new ground on weight-loss treatments. Earlier this month, Novo Nordisk's shares dropped as much as 7pc after Eli Lilly released trial data suggesting it had created a weight-loss pill that worked just as well as Wegovy.