Dr Giles Yeo MBE - Is Obesity a Choice?

Cambridge BioSoc are proud to have Dr Giles Yeo MBE with us for our eighth and penultimate event of the term! Giles Yeo got his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1998, after which he joined the lab of Prof Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, working on the genetics of severe human obesity. Giles Yeo is now a programme leader at the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit in Cambridge and his research currently focuses on the influence of genes on feeding behaviour & body-weight. In addition, he is a graduate tutor and fellow of Wolfson College, and Honorary President of the British Dietetic Association. Giles is also a broadcaster and author, presenting science documentaries for the BBC’s ‘Horizon’ & ‘Trust Me I’m A Doctor’. His first book ‘Gene Eating: The Story of Human Appetite’ was published in December 2018. Giles was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to ‘Research and Communication and Engagement’ in the Queen’s 2020 birthday honours.

Here is the abstract for his talk:
"It is clear that the cause of obesity is a result of eating more than you burn. It is physics. What is more complex to answer is why some people eat more than others? Differences in our genetic make-up mean some of us are slightly more hungry all the time and so eat more than others. In contrast to the prevailing view, obesity is not a choice. People who are obese are not bad or lazy; rather, they are fighting their biology."