Picking the Right Weight Loss Diet for Your Genes

Key takeaways:
~ Genetic variants impact weight loss on different diets.
~ Understanding which genetic variants you have can help guide you in choosing a diet plan that may work best for you as an individual.

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Nutrigenetics and weight loss:

Everyone wants a magic diet – the one that will melt away the pounds while still allowing you to eat the foods you love! This isn’t a new desire. Dieting has been around for a long time, with diet books dating back to the late 1800s and mentions of diets going back to biblical times.

Is there a perfect diet? The POUNDS Lost study attempted to answer this question. The study involved over 800 people who ate either one of two types of low-carb diets or one of two types of low-fat diets for over two years. Overall, the dieters lost a modest 6% of their body weight, with a similar average for all four diet groups. But the researchers went a step further and looked at how genetic variants interacted with diet and weight loss. They found a number of associations between genetic variants and different types of diets.[ref]

Genetics can help us understand more about how individuals respond to diets. For example, a low-fat diet may be more effective for people with certain genetic backgrounds, while a Mediterranean diet may benefit people with other genetic backgrounds. ref] However, genes don’t exist in a vacuum, and the food environment and gut microbiome also play a role.

In essence, what’s healthy for one person to lose weight may be different for another person, depending on their genes.

Here’s another example. The FTO gene has been linked to body weight and obesity in numerous studies. The POUNDS Lost study found that a higher protein diet may be more effective for weight loss. Other studies show that physical activity is also very important for people with the FTO variant. More active people with the variant tend not to gain weight, while less active people are likely to become overweight.

Other studies showed:

• The NPY genetic variants affect appetite, and people with variants do better on a high-fat, lower-carbohydrate diet.
• The AMY1 gene codes for the enzyme amylase, which the body uses to digest carbohydrates. People who are better at digesting carbohydrates tend to gain more weight on high-carbohydrate diets.

Giving you a starting point:
The research here on nutrigenetics is not perfect, but it gives you an idea of what may work best for you. Most diet-gene interaction studies look at total fat, carbohydrates, or protein. They don’t get into the details of whether the carbs were whole grains and fruits vs. processed junk. Likewise, high-fat diets don’t distinguish between pasture-raised eggs, grass-fed butter, or industrial seed oils.

Keep in mind that the differences in weight loss results based on genetics are more of a statistical change (a few pounds, in many cases) rather than a real game-changer for weight loss. All in all, the best weight loss diet is one that is both healthy and one that you enjoy and can maintain over the long term. The studies on diets also show that it is more than just the specific type of diet – weight loss is also about sleeping well, eating whole foods instead of ultra-processed junk foods, and being active.[ref]

If you have questions about healthy eating, talk with a nutritionist, functional medicine practitioner, health coach, or dietitian. The PRO directory has practitioners who can help.