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The thrifty gene hypothesis: maybe everyone is right?

International Journal of Obesity volume 32, pages 723–724 (2008)Cite this article

As always, Professor Claude Bouchard provides an elegant up-to-date exposition of the Neel ‘thrifty gene’ hypothesis, but disappointingly concurs with discarding it completely.1 Perhaps an expansion of the hypothesis could satisfy everyone?

As stated, the presence of strong genetic influences in obesity has been demonstrated to everyone's satisfaction. However, the excellent identical twin studies quoted by Professor Bouchard required confirmation from studies of both identical and non-identical twins, to reject the possibility that similar in utero environmental influences in twins caused later adiposity, rather than the genetic one.2 In such a twin study, using further decomposition analysis, we also showed that there are multiple genes involved in governing total and central fatness, some shared and some separate.3

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Diabetes and Obesity Research Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia

    L V Campbell

  2. Diabetes Centre, St Vincent's Hospital Diabetes Centre, Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia

    L V Campbell

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  1. L V Campbell
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Correspondence to L V Campbell.

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Campbell, L. The thrifty gene hypothesis: maybe everyone is right?. Int J Obes 32, 723–724 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803772

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