Lifestyle solution may yield better results for Indians with obesity risk

Lifestyle solutions or specific nutrient supplementation might yield better results for Indians with genetic risk of obesity, reveals a study.
Many gene variants previously associated with obesity in Europeans do not affect Indians similarly, which resonates with a different pattern of obesity in Indians, according to the findings of the study by researchers at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-CCMB), Hyderabad.
The study also revealed that Polygenic Risk Score (PSR) predicts obesity more accurately in people with European-like ancestry than in those with other ancestries, including Indians (South Asian ancestry)
Researchers at CSIR-CCMB, led by Dr Giriraj Ratan Chandak, characterised the genomes of the Indian population. They included individuals with diabetes as well as those with normal blood glucose levels, who have been followed for nearly 20 years, providing a unique opportunity to investigate the genetic basis of obesity in Indians.
The pattern of obesity in India is notably different from that in Europe, with Indians tending to have more central (abdominal) obesity.
Several obesity-associated genetic changes were identified and used to develop the PRS for Indians, effectively creating a “virtual individual” to model obesity risk.
This data from Indian samples has served as a representative for the South Asian population in the study. Through this data, the study’s findings become more relevant for the Indian and South Asian populations.
The scientists discovered that individuals with a higher genetic risk of obesity responded better to interventions but also regained weight more quickly once the interventions ended.
Using this data, the researchers developed a genetic test called PRS that predicts adulthood obesity in early childhood (IANS)