‘Greediness gene’ causes diets to fail even before they start
By ANIMonday, November 15, 2010
LONDON - Ever thought why your diet fails just within a few days because you can’t resist temptation? It may be the ‘greediness gene’ in you, says a new study.
Briton researchers from Oxford University and the Medical Research Council have shown that a rogue gene linked to obesity makes us fat by boosting appetite.
The find may pave way for drugs that take the edge off appetite, melting away ‘muffin tops’ and pruning pot bellies.
The researchers found a gene called FTO, which was the first widespread genetic flaw to be linked to obesity. In a previous study, those who carried two rogue copies of the rogue DNA increased their risk of obesity by 70 per cent and diabetes by 50 per cent.
49 per cent who inherit just one flawed FTO gene are 30 per cent more likely to be obese than those with two normal copies of the gene.
“For the first time we have provided convincing proof that the FTO gene causes obesity,” The Daily Mail quoted researcher Chris Church as saying.
“The next step is to understand how it does this, for instance whether it increases appetite by influencing our brain or alters messages from our fat stores and other tissues,” he added.
The research is reported in the journal Nature Genetics. (ANI)
