A Gene for Obesity

A Gene for Obesity

Obesity has long been associated with several known disease states, such as diabetes and even cancer, making it a hot topic in modern society. Researchers recently identified the first gene that showed a clear relationship to a tendency toward obesity. The gene has been labeled FTO. Interestingly, although this gene is positively correlated with obesity, nobody yet knows what it does. A British team of scientists studied samples from more than 4000 individuals and identified the FTO gene, which has been shown to be related to body mass index (BMI). A specific variant of FTO with a single nucleotide change was found. Individuals who had two copies of the variant were 1.67 times more likely to be obese than individuals lacking any copies of the variant. The researchers said that even though they currently do not have a function for the gene, its high correlation with obesity will have people racing to understand it.