Obesity isn’t just a matter of processed food and lack of exercise, it can be written into a person’s genetic code, according to new research.
Obesity could be written into the genetic code. PHOTO Shutterstock jpg
“The causes of obesity they are very complex and in most cases are a combination of several factors. In this study, however, we found a clear genetic trigger for obesity“said the study’s lead author, Dr. Mattia Frontini, principal investigator of the British Heart Foundation and associate professor of cell biology at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, according to CNN.
The researchers used data from UK Biobank, a large biomedical database and research resource that follows people over the long term, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Med. They compared data from people with two defective copies of a particular gene (SMIM1) and those who did not have the two defective copies.
Women with the genetic mutation weighed an extra 4.6 kilograms, and men an additional 2.4 kilograms, according to the study.
Defective copies of the SMIM1 gene cause thyroid function to decrease, which is why, for the same food intake, less energy is used and the excess is stored as fat.
Not only is the correlation significant, but this study also identifies a specific gene mutation, which is not always the case in research, said Dr. Philipp Scherer, director of the Touchstone Diabetes Center at University Southwestern Medical Center. from Texas.
“It’s an interesting study in that it puts a new gene on the map. It’s a real gene, rather than just a genomic locus with a mutation somewhere we don’t understand. We think we’re looking at a gene here that we can study furtherScherer said.
This genetic finding is “quite rare”, the specialists add, pointing out that about 1 in 5,000 people have this genetic component.
Thyroid dysfunction is common, affecting almost 2% of the UK population, Frontini said, and thyroid dysfunction is regularly treated with a relatively inexpensive drug.
Weight is not just a matter of willpower or laziness. Your body size and shape are determined by many factors—some of which you have control over, and some of which you don’t, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
These factors include lifestyle, quality and quantity of sleep, medications, health problems, where you live and work, and genetics, according to the institute.
