Physical activity and exercise habits may be predetermined by an individual's genetic make-up, studies suggest.

Recent reports published in the journal Physiological Genomics and the Journal of Heredity show that to a certain extent, genes appear to influence the level of physical activity in mice, which serve as the standard test species for exploring the genetics of mammals.

Researcher Timothy Lightfoot from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte stated: "Can you be born a couch potato? In exercise physiology, we didn't used to think so, but now I would say most definitely you can."

The findings suggest that motivation and drive to stay active is programmed in the brain.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the prevalence of obesity has tripled in many countries in the WHO European Region since the 1980s, and continues to rise, particularly among children.

Statistics show that in the US, almost 65 per cent of the population are either obese or overweight.