Research
Energy balance
Reducing physical activity levels and increasing sedentary time are major determinants of the current obesity epidemic, as evidenced by the inverse correlation between leisure-time physical activity and BMI, and the decline in energy expenditure due to labor-saving devices.
Incorporate more movement into your daily routine. The decline in physical activity due to modern conveniences is a major contributor to obesity. Aim to reduce sedentary time and increase leisure-time physical activity to help prevent weight gain.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The great increase in the prevalence of obesity in populations whose gene pool has been relatively constant provides confirmation that environmental factors have considerable importance... The food system has improved the availability of high-yielding energy foods, while the sedentary lifestyle with motorized transport and many labour-saving devices... have risen in recent decades.
Why this rating
Supported by prospective studies, time-budget surveys, and cross-sectional data.
Source
Body-weight regulation: causes of obesity
J. Alfredo Martínéz · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · 2000
DOI 10.1017/s0029665100000380
narrative_reviewCited 233×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- The rapid increase in global obesity prevalence is primarily driven by environmental factors—specifically the high availability of energy-dense foods and increasingly sedentary lifestyles—rather than changes in the human gene pool.Strong
- Genetic susceptibility interacts with environmental factors to influence obesity risk, where specific gene variants (e.g., beta-3 adrenergic receptor, UCP-1) affect energy expenditure and fat oxidation, but these genes only contribute to obesity when triggered by energy-dense diets and sedentary behavior.Good
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