Scientists at Cambridge University have identified variations in a single gene that can increase the carrier’s risk of obesity by a factor of six. Luckily for most of us, the gene variations in question show up in only about 1 in 6,500 adults…
Overweight and obese people have been blaming their condition on genetics for decades. And most of them have been fibbing about it. There has been some evidence that genetic inheritance may have some connection with obesity. But mostly, folks who claimed it were ridiculed. Mostly by skinny folks. Now, there is solid scientific proof.
What they did
Researchers data-mined records from the massive UK Biobank collection project covering more than 500,000 individuals. They wanted to see if a specific genetic sequences correlated with body mass.
What they found
“We have identified two genes with variants that have the most profound impact on obesity risk at a population level we’ve never seen,” reports study author Dr. Giles Yeo, based at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Metabolic Diseases Unit, said. “But perhaps more importantly, that the variation […] is linked to adult-onset and not childhood obesity. […] Thus, these findings give us a new appreciation of the relationship between genetics, neurodevelopment and obesity.”
The gene in question is officially named ‘BSN’, but scientists generally pronounce it ‘Bassoon’.
In short, Yeo explains, the gene variations can result in the age-related degeneration of, “some of the key circuits within the brain controlling food intake. And, therefore, you end up with obesity.”
The takeaway
Okay. So folks can now legitimately claim their obesity is inherited from their flabby ancestors. If they’re willing to spend a few hundred bucks on an appropriate DNA analysis. Case closed.
The question now arises, Yeo observes, “Can we actually slow down the process, prevent the process from happening to begin with, so that then we prevent more people from ending up with obesity, particularly in adulthood?”
Time magazine notes: “Patients can [already] take highly effective medicines to shed unwanted weight. The revolution, led by drug makers Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly & Co., carved open a market that could surpass $100 billion globally by 2030.” You’ll surely have heard of the near-miraculous weight control properties of Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy. The new Cambridge discovery looks like another potential lucrative, new vista for the drug companies…
~ Maggie J.