for National Geographic News Are sedentary obese people
intentionally lazy? Not according to a new study, which says
some people are natural-born couch potatoes. The study also
finds that people who are overweight can take some easy steps to
shed pounds. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
in Rochester, Minnesota, found that obese people with sedentary
lifestyles appear to have a genetic inclination to sit around a
lot. The study, to be published tomorrow in the journal Science,
investigated the link between inactivity, low energy
expenditure, and obesity. The research was part of a program to
devise new treatments for obesity, which is fast becoming an
epidemic in the United States and other Western nations.
Researchers say there is a factor more important than strenuous
exercise in determining who is fat and who is lean. They call it
non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT. The term refers to
the calories people burn during everyday activities such as
walking, fidgeting, or even just sta