Scientists have found a gene that causes weight gain

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Scientists of the University of Cambridge finally proved that that the tendency to fullness is embedded in a person genetically. And what should we do with it now?

A Cambridge University research group led by Professor Ines Barroso analyzed the genome of more than 150,000 people and identified the sequence of six gene variants that are associated with an increase in body mass index (BMI) – a standard medical indicator that is calculated based on the ratio of weight to height. Previously, scientists assumed that the tendency to fullness is genetic in nature. The revolutionary discovery of Ines Barroso is that she collected the largest group of subjects for her research, and it included not only people with excess body weight (as was the case in early works on the same topic), but also those who had never felt such a problem. It turned out that the specified genes in a certain chain of relationships are found in 79% of the subjects, and only in 20% of the slim ones.

What we already guessed, turned out to be a reality: while one person gets fat just by looking at donuts, another can weave them continuously and not gain a single gram. But don't be in a hurry to ritually burn your gym membership and stand up under the banner of radical body positivity. Everything is not so simple. Of course, the program embedded in us cannot be changed. But all the same, 20% of thin women, who carry the genes of plumpness, became an exception and did not gain extra pounds. Scientists carefully studied the lifestyle of these “lucky people” and it turned out that the secret is simple: they led a healthy lifestyle, sweated in gyms, ran and set reasonable restrictions on their food. By the way, there was not a single anorexic or person with other eating disorders among them. That is, genetics in this case is not fate at all, but only a sentence for people prone to fullness to work on themselves many times more than those who are artistic by nature.

And what about the 21% of subjects who, according to nature's design, did not have a tendency to be overweight and still entered the club of fat people? There is nothing mystical here either. Geneticists emphasize that the tendency to food obesity can be not only genetic, but also acquired: the brain can trigger a command to accumulate extra kilograms as an SOS command, in response to severe stress, serious illness, hormonal disruption. By the way, “obesity genes” interact with the same areas of the brain that can independently trigger the mechanism of weight gain.

But maybe bad genes can be taken and turned off, thereby making all people perfect? Geneticists do not recommend. Because each gene (and even more so a whole sequence of genes) is responsible for not one, but several programs embedded in us. Perhaps in trying to “turn off” the tendency to be obese, we “kill” at the same time, for example, the ability to learn languages ​​or music or, even worse, defense against viruses or block entire areas of brain activity. While scientists do not have an exact answer to the question of what the chain of “fullness genes” is responsible for, there are only assumptions that they may be related to abstract thinking and the ability to feel taste.

Decipher the entire functionality of one or another science is not yet capable of gene. But it is possible to apply the practically revolutionary discovery of geneticists right now. For example, in the near future, genetic tests may be created to identify a child's predisposition to obesity in the womb, which will then help coordinate his physical activity and diet. The creation of new drugs capable of genetically regulating appetite and stimulating metabolism will require much more time. Professor Barroso emphasizes that such drugs need long clinical trials, because the full extent of the consequences of their use can be understood only after several decades. So, for now, tweaking our genetic programming remains the stuff of science fiction novels.