Ahn WK, et al. - An exploration was pursued of the personalized feedback regarding the genetic susceptibility to obesity on attitudes directed towards diet and exercise. The existence of a genetic invincibility effect was revealed in this study. This, in turn, displayed that personalized feedback indicating the absence of a genetic liability could exert negative psychological consequences with significant health-related implications.

Methods

• The potential effects of learning that one did not have a genetic predisposition to obesity was comprehended in this research.
• The possibility that such feedback could lead to negative consequences by making people feel invulnerable to weight gain, which is termed a genetic invincibility effect was contemplated.
• A saliva test disguised as genetic screening was performed on the enrollees.
• Candidates were randomly assigned to be told that there was either a very high or very low chance that they carried genes known to increase one's risk of developing obesity.

Results

• Individuals who were told that they were not genetically predisposed to obesity considered the efficacy of healthy diet and exercise habits as being considerably lower than did those who were told that they were genetically predisposed and those who did not receive any genetic feedback.
• The enrollees who were told that they were not genetically predisposed to obesity exhibited greater tendency than others to select unhealthy foods, when prompted to select a meal from a menu of options.