The seeds of obesity are planted early in life. But kids with the obesity gene are not doomed to be fat, says University College London researcher Laura Johnson, PhD, and colleagues. Children with the FTO variant aren't any more vulnerable than other kids to the fat-increasing effects of energy-dense, high-calorie foods. "Obesity is not inevitable if your genes give you a higher risk," Johnson said in a news release. "Those with high-risk genes can, in some cases, resist their genetic lot if they alter their lifestyle in the right way - in this case, their diet."