I have kept the older information below and ask you to read it as it is still mostly correct. What I am adding here will be the improvements and new learning of the past 3 years about the genetic code of obesity. Some of the more technical information will be found on the Physicians Genetics Page. They are constructing a website about the genetic basis of obesity. This is work which has been sorely needed.
Most doctors still don t believe that obesity has a genetic basis.
Most people and doctors and lawmakers believe that obesity is a sign of a personality flaw. I hope they will do a layman s page to make their knowledge accessable. In the last five years there has been an explosion in the field of genetics. Several governments, including the United States, are contributing to The Human Genome Project which has set itself a goal of plotting all human genes molecular structure by the year 2000. A few years ago, when some governments were reluctant to disclose the information to the public, the French government put the entire database on the Internet, and has kept it there.