Your birth year could influence your odds for obesity, study suggests

Members of families who share an obesity-prone mutation of the FTO gene are more likely to carry extra weight if they were born after 1942, the researchers found.
According to the researchers, prior studies have linked variations in the FTO gene to a propensity toward overweight and obesity. For example, federal researchers earlier this year reported that people with mutated FTO genes are more likely to eat high-calorie or fatty foods as they age, compared to people without the mutations. While the study couldn't prove cause-and-effect, the findings suggest that changes in American culture may be boosting the obesity threat tied to the FTO gene mutation.