The study also did not account for genetic factors and family history of obesity.

CNN: Drinking skim milk may not lower child obesity risk

His work suggests that looking for genetic links to chronic diseases like obesity, hypertension and heart disease may even be a waste of time.

ECONOMIST: Metabolomics

And I think on a societal level, the understanding that obesity can have fundamental genetic causes and is not always due to moral failing may permeate society and we may treat obese people differently.

BBC: Born to be fat

Two-dozen bits of genetic code have been linked to heart disease, obesity and diabetes this year.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Throw in other environmental and behavioral factors (smoking, drinking, obesity and so on), and the variability exceeds that contributed by any genetic differences we will ever detect.

FORBES: Tailor-made drugs

Most diseases are not caused by one gene alone - there is no 'obesity gene' or 'heart disease gene' - but by the interaction of lots of genetic and environmental factors.

BBC: Has decoding the genome lived up to hype?