Quantifying physical activity needed to mitigate genetic risk for obesity

Abstract Despite consistent public health recommendations, obesity rates continue to increase. Physical activity (e.g. daily steps) is a well-established modifier of body weight. Genetic background is an important, but typically uncaptured, contributor to obesity risk. Leveraging physical activity, clinical, and genetic data from the All of Us Research Program, we measured the impact of genetic risk of obesity on the level of physical activity needed to reduce incident obesity. For example, we show that an additional 3,310 steps per day (11,910 steps total) would be needed to mitigate a 25% higher than average genetic risk of obesity. We quantify the number of daily steps needed to mitigate obesity risk across the spectrum of genetic risk. This work quantifies the relationship between physical activity and genetic risk showing significant independent effects and provides a first step towards personalized activity recommendations that incorporate genetic information to reduce incident obesity risk.