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Understanding the relationship between our biology and the food we eat might lead to a better understanding of managing our weight and preventing obesity, a serious and growing health concern in America.

That’s what two University of Cincinnati researchers are claiming in a recent editorial published in the Feb. 7 issue of the journal “Cell Metabolism.”

The editorial compiled research from the UC team along with outside research to give a review on how the food we eat has an impact on the biological regulation of body weight.

“Given the environment we live in, the availability of food and the types of food we have available our bodies do view that as a reason to defend a higher body weight than we did before,” said Randy Seeley, professor in medical endocrinology at UC and coauthor with Karen Ryan, an associate a professor of endocrinology.

Weight is a biologically controlled characteristic, much like blood pressure, that is controlled both by genetics and the environment one lives in, Seeley said.

The foods available in our environment are often fast and processed foods that are high in fats and contain things like high fructose corn syrup.

An example of how these foods affect us biologically can be seen in the protein Leptin. In most people Leptin inhibits appetite, but when people consistently eating high-fat foods Leptin becomes less active in slowing down appetite, Seeley said.

One reason these high-fat foods, are so easily available is because they are cheap to produce.

“If everybody in the world ate according to the food pyramid, then we wouldn’t have enough arid land to have that many fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits are very intensive per calorie, but they’re also very expensive per calorie,” said Seeley.

Due to the correlation between cheap food and unhealthy food, people with lower incomes are at higher risk of being obese and developing diabetes.

“Being poor means it’s harder to eat well, but also being obese means you’re less likely to get a good job, so it’s a double edged sword for individuals who are obese and poor,” Seeley said.

Obesity has been a rapidly growing health problem for the past 20 years. One-third of people in the United States are obese, twice the amount of obese people in 1980, according to the Center for Disease Control.

The health problems associated with obesity have been well documented.

There are 65 diseases or conditions — including cancer, depression, heart disease and sleep apnea — that obesity can either make worse or increase the prevalence of, Seeley said.

Data from 2010 collected by the CDC shows that Mississippi has the highest percentage of obese people with 34 percent, while Colorado has the lowest percentage of obese people with 21 percent. That same data shows that 29.2 percent of Ohio’s population is obese.