Britain:Researchers have produced the first clear evidence for a gene common in the population that dictates why some people gain weight while others do not.
They found the gene, called FTO, by studying nearly 39,000 white Europeans in a finding they hope can lead to new ways to fight this global health problem.
British researchers, writing in the journal Scienceyesterday, said the presence of a version of FTO increased a person's risk of obesity, and it was very common in the people studied - 63 per cent had one or two copies of it.
People with two copies had about a 70 per cent higher risk of being obese than people with none and were an average of nearly 3 kg heavier than a similar person with no copies. Those with one copy had a lesser but still elevated risk. Genetics has long been assumed to play a role in making some people fatter than others, and previous research had tentatively implicated specific genes.
However, the researchers emphasised, genetics alone cannot fully account for a worldwide surge in obesity in recent decades.
- (Reuters)