Whether it involves surgical or non-surgical means, achieving and maintaining your ideal weight, body size and shape includes one global component: exercise. But new evidence points to an even bigger reason to get active: it can affect fat cells at the DNA level, increasing the speed at which they metabolize fat and helping you to better keep the weight off, even if you’re genetically programmed to hold onto it. That’s according to a recent study published in PLOS Genetics.
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden decided to examine the effects 6 months of exercise might have on DNA gene expression in fatty tissue. Fat cells, like other body cells, include DNA, which define our individual traits. However, environmental factors can and do alter characteristics of how those genes are expressed, the authors point out. “Since environmental factors potentially change metabolism through epigenetic modifications, we examined if a six-month exercise intervention alters the DNA methylation pattern as well as gene expression in human adipose tissue.”
To investigate this concept on the metabolism of fat cells specifically, they recruited 23 healthy men to participate. All were slightly overweight and did not have a history of regular exercise. The men were told to attend 3 exercise classes (aerobic or spinning) per week over a 6-month time period and not to alter their normal level of activity or food intake otherwise.
To evaluate the effects of exercise on gene expression, the study researchers looked at the epigenetics (changes in how genes express themselves) within the fat cells. Through biopsies of fatty tissue both before (baseline) and after 6-months of exercise, they were able to analyze DNA methylation at both time points. They found that the molecules inside the genes had changed to alter the metabolism in study participants’ favor and affected more than 1/3 of the total genes in the body. Adding to this positive outcome, the study participants had a significant loss in waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate at rest.
What does this mean for us in the real world? Shedding some weight—whether it’s purely through diet and exercise or includes a little liposuction help—and adopting a more active lifestyle not only can help you to look good and feel better, it can also benefit physical health in terms of blood pressure and cholesterol, and even serve as a clinical intervention for obesity, suggest the authors.
At the end of the day, you may not be able to choose the genes your mom and pop gave you, but according to this research, you may be able to alter the amount of fat each cell will store. And that’s good news for folks everywhere!