The battle of the bulge isn't over, but some overweight people are closer to waving the white flag after scientists yesterday revealed the discovery of a gene linked to obesity.
Researchers at Rockefeller University in New York have isolated a genetic mutation thought to alter metabolism and appetite control, causing the brain to miss the signal that a person has had enough to eat.
For many overweight people, the finding confirmed something they've believed for a long time: It's not what's on their plate as much as what's in their DNA.
"It's a bit of a relief," says Karen London, who is "significantly obese" and manages the Women's Resource Center at Mercy Medical Center.
"It reinforces there are certain things I don't have control over. It helps me to be a little more comfortable with who I am. It doesn't give me a license to binge. But it helps me see that [being overweight] is not a character flaw. Part of it is just the way I am, my physical makeup."
Doctors specializing in weight control cautioned against becoming elated or depressed by the news. Even though genes may help determine size, obesity is most often caused by a complex set of psychological, emotional and physical factors.
"People have blown this out of proportion," says psychologist David Roth, who runs the eating disorders program at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital. "To look for a simple solution in the discovery of a gene and to hope this results in a vaccine . . . is the grandest of fictions."
The obese gene was the hot topic in his Wednesday night sessions with compulsive overeaters. Patients initially were optimistic about the prospect of a drug that would one day correct obesity but then became more realistic about achieving long-term weight loss, he says.
"There's an incredible amount of misunderstanding about obesity," Dr. Roth says. "There is a heterogeneity of causes: People eat too much. They don't know what exercise means. . . . They turn to food for nurturance."
Regardless of the cause, the effect is evident: More Americans are overweight today. One-third of the population is now obese (20 percent over the recommended body weight), a gain of 8 percent from 1980 to 1991, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. Extra weight increases the risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and other health problems.
Diane Neas may be heavy, but she won't let her ancestors take the blame. While she jokingly says the obese gene justifies her existence, she sees being 5 feet 4 inches tall and a Size 14 as an occupational hazard of working as a restaurant consultant.
"Wherever I go, people ask me: 'Try this. Try this,' " says Ms. Neas, 43, who lives in Kingsville. "I know when I'm full. I know what goes into garlic mashed potatoes, and I still eat them. I'll never be able to say to myself: 'It's not my fault. It's just my broken chromosome.' "
Similarly, Tracey Hamilton is relaxed about being 5 feet 7 and weighing more than 230 pounds. Whether there is a genetic component to her weight doesn't matter much.
"I try not to let my weight affect how I live," says Ms. Hamilton, 31, a clerk who lives in West Baltimore. "There's this myth that skinny people don't have problems. That's not true. I once got down to a Size 16. Nothing magical happened."
Dietitian Tracey Rammling is already grappling with how she'll discuss the discovery with the obese patients she meets on Monday. She fears they will interpret it as a sign that the war with the bathroom scale simply can't be won.
"It's going to be harder for us," says Ms. Rammling, who works at the University of Maryland Medical Center. "It gives people a way out, an easy answer to why they're overweight.
"I've heard several times from patients that they don't think it's in their control. They've said, 'My mother, dad and sister are all overweight.' This may make it worse. . . . They may use heredity as a way of getting out of facing their real feelings about food and their real reasons for eating."
The one positive aspect is that obesity may lose at least some of its stigma in society.
"There will be a bit more tolerance and understanding," says Dr. David M. Paige, professor of Maternal and Child Health at Johns Hopkins University and chairman of the State Advisory Council on Nutrition. "There are overweight people who have said for years: 'I can't help it.' We've always been a bit skeptical. . . . We will at least come to recognize that there's a biological basis for some obesity."
In the meantime, Karen London isn't waiting for a scientist to create the ultimate diet pill. Through counseling and massage therapy, she's lost 50 pounds in six months.
"Being overweight has been so heartbreaking," says Ms. London, 40, who lives in Annapolis. "I've spent a great deal of my life saying, 'When I lose 20 pounds, I'll do thus and such.' Now I've discovered I can't let my life go by while I wait to reach my ideal weight. . . . I can live a life that's joyful and full. You don't have to be slender to do that."