15/11/2021
Promising News for Weight Loss Drug Development: Scientists Discover 14 Genes That Cause Obesity
Genomicists have identified hundreds of genes associated with obesity - meaning the genes are more or less prevalent in people who are obese than in people with healthy weight. The challenge is determining which genes play causal roles by directly promoting or helping prevent weight gain.
The new findings reveal the complex relationships between obesity, diet, and our genes. In the last few decades, obesity rates have increased dramatically due mainly to our lifestyles. We have access to an abundance of food choices. However, most of them have little nutrition. Instead, they have high amounts of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and vegetable oils, which pack on calories. Coupled with our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, it’s a recipe for disaster.
More work needs to be done, of course. But the researchers say the indicators are encouraging. For example, blocking the effect of one of the genes in lab mice prevented weight gain, improved insulin sensitivity and lowered blood sugar levels. These results (plus the fact that the genes under study were chosen because they were associated with obesity in humans) bode well that the results will hold true in people as well, the researchers say.
Read more via https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1009736
