Trinny & Susannah mislead viewers of The Great British Body

Trinny and Susannah’s new adventure to find the best of British bodies has been criticised by the scientist who discovered the “fat” gene.

The ITV show involves the two fashion know-it-alls hunting down people to take part in a massive human sculpture. They were testing recruits for the “fat” gene identified by scientists last year.

But Professor Tim Frayling has said the the programme has misled the public and, although people with two copies of the gene were statistically 3kg heavier than those without it, other genes also contributed to the amount of fat a person carried.

“The genes have nothing to do with how the population is getting fatter. It’s because we’re eating more and exercising less.

“They tested a bunch of people for the fat gene. Some had it and some didn’t. Some had two copies and are still quite thin.

“Others had two thin genes and were overweight. And that’s normal because it’s a population average affect.

“The thing they got wrong is they kept asking if the genes were responsible for the expanding waistlines in Europe.

“The genes have nothing to do with how the population is getting fatter. It’s because we’re eating more and exercising less.

“What the genes do is determine where we each are on the scale.”

Obesity in England alone has more than tripled since the 80s, one in five adults are obese.