Obesity has many reasons, one them is impulsiveness: Study

New Delhi: A new study says that impulsiveness may lead to obesity and may make a person abnormally fat.

Researchers at University of Texas at Dallas showed that impulsive personality - the tendency to consistently react with little forethought - is the key factor that links brain patterns of impulsivity and a high body mass index (BMI).

"Our research points to impulsive personality as a risk factor for weight gain," said Francesca Filbey, associate professor in the School of Behavioural and Brain Sciences and the Centre for BrainHealth.

"Thus, addressing impulsive personality traits is essential to developing effective weight management programs that can help the 70 per cent of Americans who are overweight or obese," said Filbey.

Researchers recruited 45 individuals, ages 22 to 43 with an average BMI of 30.7, and analysed three separate measures to understand the role of impulsivity in body weight, including a self-report, neuropsychological testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

For the self-report, researchers used an impulsive sensation-seeking scale to gauge innate personality characteristics.

(With PTI inputs)