Our genes make us who we are…well, kind of.
Let me explain.
Yes, our genes determine things like our height, skin color, eye color, hair color and much more. However, genes aren’t everything either. Our genes play a role in everything, but sometimes our environment shapes the ultimate outcome.
For example, you may have the genes to be a professional athlete, but if you dislike athletics or never get the opportunity to express those skills, you likely won’t make it to the pros.
Another example is that you may have the genes that make you more susceptible to developing type 2 diabetes, but if you live a healthy lifestyle, the chances of that happening are greatly decreased.
In other words, in many ways genes make it more likely that we may develop in a certain way, but ultimately, it’s the combination of our genes plus our environment that determines the ultimate outcome.
This appears to hold true for diet as well.
In a recent study (The Personalized Nutrition Study (POINTS): Evaluation of a Genetically Informed Weight Loss Approach, a Randomized Clinical Trial, 2023), researchers identified people who had genes that made them better at responding to a high-fat diet or high-carb diet. They split these study participants up into 4 groups. Some of the participants with the “fat genes” were told to follow a high-fat diet, and the rest were told to follow a high-carb diet. Some of the participants with the “carb genes” were told to follow a high-carb diet, and some were told to follow a high-fat diet.
In other words, researchers split the participants into groups where the diet they were eating matched their genes and groups where participants were eating a diet that did not match their genes.
The researchers then put the participants in a caloric deficit and looked to see if there were any differences in their ability to lose weight. Every participant, regardless of the diet they were on, was eating 750 calories less than they should have been. Both the high-carb and high-fat diets were matched for protein content; the only difference between the diets was the amount of carbs and the amount of fat participants were eating.
When looking at the groups that were eating the diet that matched their genes, they lost 5.3 kg (11.66 lbs), while the group that was eating the diet that did not match their genes lost 4.8 kg (10.56 lbs). In this study, if you ate the diet matching your genetics you lost a little more than 1 lb than if you were eating a diet that did not match your diet.
The results also showed that those participants who had “fat genes” eating a high-fat diet lost 5.5 kg (12.1 lbs) and lost 1.1% body fat, while the participants who had “fat genes” eating a high-carb diet lost 5.3 kg (11.6 lbs) and lost 1.9% body fat. In that group with the “fat genes” eating a high-carb diet caused more fat loss!
The participants who had “carb genes” eating a high-carb diet lost 5.1 kg (11.22 lbs) and lost 1.9% body fat, while the participants who had “carb genes” eating a high-fat diet lost 4.1 kg (9.02 lbs) and lost 1.4% body fat.
No matter how you look at these results, whether you look at eating a diet that matches your genes or eating a high-fat diet or eating a high-carb diet, there is very little difference in changes in weight loss or body composition. In other words, your genes and the macro composition of the diet you are eating take a back seat to the fact that a caloric deficit will universally cause fat loss.
Researchers also found that there was no difference in waist and hip circumference between all groups, and there was no difference in blood pressure between all groups.
The one difference that did come out of this research was that those who had the “carb genes” eating a high-fat diet had a reduction in cravings for carbohydrates and starches. This is a commonly reported benefit of a high-fat diet. Outside of that, there were no differences between groups in cravings or food preferences. In addition, food satisfaction across all groups was the same as well.
Should we consider our genetics when constructing our “optimal” diet?
This study would suggest that our genes do not really matter.
And I would tend to agree.
One of the most important pieces of advice I can give to you is to worry about what you can control.
Your genetics fall under the “No Control” portion of the image above. They are what they are, and as of 2023, you cannot change them.
In addition, just because your genes say you will do better eating more carbs or more fat (or any other diet we can come up with) doesn’t mean that you actually enjoy eating that way or that your digestion does well eating that way or that it provides you with optimal performance mentally or physically or helps you control your cravings the best or helps you get better sleep, or that your health markers are optimal.
If eating a diet that matches your genetics makes you worse overall both objectively and subjectively, what good is that? It is certainly not going to help you reach your goals.
The outcome matters more than the details.
If the outcome you want is to reach your goal, then you should only be focusing on practices that help you do that. Those practices may or may not match your genetics, or it may or may not match what I or anyone else suggests you do, or it may or may not be the same thing that your friend does to reach the same goal. YOU are the ultimate judge, YOU need to decide if what you are doing is moving you forward, YOU are in control.
Don’t let your genes or anyone else stop you from doing what YOU know is best for YOU!
If you enjoyed this post, sign up for my newsletter using the form below, and I will email similar content each week. My goal is to help you reach your goals, and that is what my newsletter is meant to do, provide you with free actionable advice to get you to where you want to be!
References
The Personalized Nutrition Study (POINTS): evaluation of a genetically informed weight loss approach, a Randomized Clinical Trial. (2023, October 9). PubMed. Retrieved December 13, 2023, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37813841/