This Newsweek article discusses a study that shows that people are getting fatter because of our unhealthy environment.

People have gotten fatter in the past 50 years, and scientists believe our environments could be to largely to blame. What is known as an obesogenic environment could heighten our chances of having an unhealthy body mass index from the time we are in the womb until we die, warned the authors of the study published in the journal The BMJ.

Study co-author Maria Brandkvist of the Department of Public Health and Nursing at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim told Newsweek: “Our genetic propensities for obesity may make it easier for some and more difficult for others to make healthy lifestyle choices. For those with genetic predisposition to obesity, today’s environment may make these healthy lifestyle choices even more difficult. We cannot change our genes, however, we can influence the environment in which we live.”