The genetic test predicts adult obesity in children as young as 5 years

A genetic test could predict if a child will be obese in adulthood.

A global study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, revealed that the risk of severe obesity in adulthood can be identified in early childhood thanks to a polygenic risk score (PGS).

The PGS acts as a “calculator” which combines the impact of different genetic risk variants that a person can transport, according to the researchers.

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The test can be carried out on children before their weight begins to move, from the age of 5, according to a press release from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR) of the University of Copenhagen.

Researchers suggest that this can support early prevention strategies for obesity, such as lifestyle interventions at a younger age.

A test can predict the risk of adult obesity in early childhood, have discovered global researchers. (istock)

“Overall, these data show that PGS have the potential to improve the prediction of obesity, especially when they are implemented early in life,” concluded researchers in the study.

The author of the main study Roelof Smit, assistant professor at the Center NNF, wrote in a press release declaration that the score is “so powerful” because of its ability to predict adult obesity “long before other risk factors started to shape their weight later”.

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“Intervention at this stage can have a huge impact,” he said.

The main study was an international collaboration of researchers in human genetics, made up of more than 600 scientists from 500 world institutions, as well as the genetic and consumer research society, 23andme, Inc.

According to the World Obesity Federation, more than half of the world’s population should be overweight or obese by 2035. (istock)

After having gathered genetic data of more than 5 million people, scientists created what is described as the most important and diverse genetic data set in reported history, using this to create PGs.

The results have shown that the PGS was twice as effective as the best previous test to predict the risk of obesity, representing approximately 17.6% of the risk of a child to develop a high BMI (body mass index) in adulthood.

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“This new polygenic score is a spectacular improvement in predictive power and a leap forward in the genetic prediction of the risk of obesity, which brings us very close to clinically useful genetic tests,” said the co-author of the Ruth Loos study, professor of CBMR at the University of Copenhagen, in a press release.

The researchers suggest that these results support early prevention strategies for obesity, such as lifestyle interventions at a younger age. (istock)

Scientists also discovered that those who presented a higher genetic risk of obesity were more sensitive to life loss loss interventions.

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These individuals also gained weight faster once the interventions are completed.

The researchers noted that the new PGS has its limits, because it was “much better to predict obesity” in those who have European ancestry than in those suffering from African ancestry.