Is your weight determined by your genes?  Somewhat — but a new study shows that what you drink can affect how those genes work.

We all have a certain amount of genes that predispose us to gain weight. Some have more than others.  These genes were handy in the times that food was scarce.  If you had the ability to pack on the pounds during the good times, you would last longer in time of famine. (I personally would be hanging on while people dropped like flies around me!)  The trouble is that in our society, the good times keep rolling on. There is no shortage of food. In fact, eating has become a recreation instead of a simple maintaining of life.

So those life-saving genes have become a curse.  Does that mean you have to be fat?  No, it’s just that for some of us it will take more effort.

A new study presented recently at an obesity conference in San Antonio and published online by the New England Journal of Medicine followed more than 33,000 Americans over decades.  The study has proven one thing that makes a huge difference in whether people get fat or not.  Sugary drinks.  If people are predisposed to gain weight, those sodas will push them over the edge into obesity.

For every 10 risk genes for obesity a person has, the chance of obesity corresponds with the number of sugary drinks he regularly consumes.

We figured there might be a connection, given the fact that soda consumption and the obesity rate have both doubled since the 1970s in the U.S.  The new study, which actually consisted of three separate studies run at the same time by three different groups, proved the correlation.

If you are struggling with weight that just won’t come off, no matter how carefully you eat, maybe you need to think about what  you are drinking.  That cola might just be pushing your obesity button.

Eating to live and living for Christ,

Susan Jordan Brown