Obesity gene discovered

The World Health Organization estimates based on relevant United Nations standards that about 1.6 billion adults around the world are overweight, of which at least 400 million are obese. Based on this, the organization predicts that by 2015, the number of overweight adults worldwide will reach 2.3 billion, and the number of obese people will reach 700 million. The World Health Organization also revealed that obesity has always been considered a problem in developed countries, but now it is becoming more and more serious in low-and middle-income countries, especially in urban areas of these countries. This problem is particularly prominent.

This newspaper's comprehensive report British researchers announced on the 12th that they have confirmed an allele associated with obesity for the first time in the world. If both copies of this gene are mutated, the risk of obesity can be higher than that of normal people. 70% of people. Researchers discovered the gene, which they called FTO, after studying about 39,000 Europeans. The research results were published in the journal Science published on the 13th.

Most people have the obesity gene

The research team, composed of 42 scientists, co-led by Andrew Hattersley of the British Peninsula School of Medicine and Mark McCarthy of the University of Oxford, studied approximately 39,000 adults and children from the UK, Finland and Italy for the first time. Certain genes in the human body usually appear in pairs and are called "alleles", with one copy coming from the father and the other copy coming from the mother.

The researchers found that FTO is quite common in humans, with approximately 63% of all people studied having one or two copies of the FTO gene in their bodies. Among them, 47% had one copy of the FTO gene, and another 16% had two copies.

Researchers believe that mutations in a copy of the FTO gene will significantly increase a person's chances of becoming obese. If both copies were mutated, their chances of obesity were up to 70% higher than those without the mutated copy. If only one copy of the FTO gene is mutated, the risk of obesity is 30% higher than that of people without a mutated copy.

Researchers believe that the effect of the FTO gene will not be apparent until the age of 7. The researchers said they were unable to accurately grasp the specific role this gene plays in the process of getting fat.

Will find a new way to lose weight

Nowadays, obesity is recognized as an increasingly serious global health problem. Compared with normal people, obese people have a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, mental illness, heart disease, high blood pressure and some cancers. Researchers say that although improving a person's lifestyle is still a popular way to lose weight, many people find themselves unable to lose weight no matter how hard they try. This finding provides an appropriate answer to this: the FTO gene in your body is holding you back.

However, the researchers emphasize that the rise in obesity worldwide in recent decades cannot be entirely attributed to the FTO gene. They believe that people eat a lot of junk food and exercise little are also important reasons for getting fat.

"Although this is the first gene associated with obesity to date discovered," McCarthy said,"it is by no means the only one." McCarthy said that although the existence of this gene can be attributed to the obesity of many people, it alone does not provide an appropriate explanation for many obesity problems.

The researchers also said they hope the discovery will find a new way to solve the problem of obesity, and they will also study the role of the FTO gene in more people. (Internship Editor: Zheng Yanjun)