If they have the bad version, they could adjust their lifestyle by doing weight training or eating foods with a lot of calcium and vitamin-D to prevent the disease.

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"One of the reasons that diets are so ineffective in producing weight loss for some people is that their bodies adjust to the reduced calories by also reducing their metabolism, so that they are 'defending' their body weight, " says Dr. Alan Saltiel, the lead researcher at the University of Michigan.

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