Six new gene mutations linked to obesity

Study finds six new gene mutations linked to obesity

Researchers founded 6 new gene mutations linked to obesity and they point to ways the brain and nervous system control eating and metabolism.

Dr. Alan Guttmacher, Acting director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, said: "Today's findings are a major step forward in understanding how the human body regulates weight." This study essentially doubles in one fell swoop the number of known and replicated genetic factors contributing to obesity as a public health problem. These findings are a major step forward in understanding how the human body regulates weight.

They found variations in six genesn TMEM18, KCTD15, GNPDA2, SH2B1, MTCH2 and NEGR1 were strongly associated with a height to weight ratio known as body mass index or BMI.

One of the most notable aspects of these discoveries is that most of these new risk factors are near genes that regulate processes in the brain. This suggests that to develop better means of combating obesity, including using these discoveries as the first step in developing new drugs, we need to focus on the regulation of appetite at least as much as on the metabolic factors of how the
body uses and stores energy. Nearly a third of US adults are considered obese with a BMI of 30 or more. Obesity is associated with more than 100,000 deaths each year in the US population and trends are similar in many other countries.

Dr. Eric Green, the genome institute's said: We know that environmental factors, such as diet, play a role in obesity, but this research further provides evidence that genetic variation plays a significant role in an individual's predisposition to obesity.