Experts have discovered that overweight people who blame their size on the 'fat gene' aren't as powerless as they think, because there is a way of reversing the so-called 'junk food gene' ... with exercise.
It sounds simple, but it's believed that those who have the fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) which makes them crave sugary and fatty foods, shun exercise as they think their genes stop them from losing weight.
With two-thirds of Brits currently carrying the FTO gene, experts from the Medical Research Council's Epidemiology Unit decided to look into gene, weight and exercise data of 220,000 adults from around the world.
Researchers found an obvious link between FTO and obesity but also discovered the invaluable benefit exercise has on FTO carriers.
Those with the fat gene are 30% more likely to become obese than non-carriers. But FTO carriers who exercised regularly decreased their risks of obesity to 22%.
The experts concluded that fat gene carriers who were more active, cut the overall effects of FTO gene down by 27%.
"The wider public view of genetically determined obesity not being amenable to exercise is incorrect," says a spokesperson from the study.