Researchers say that they have identified a gene that plays a key role in the development of obesity. Professor Philippe Froguel, of Imperial College London in the UK, and colleagues compared the genomes of 576 obese and 646 normal weight adults. Results revealed two alleles of an appetite-stimulating gene known as GAD2, one of which was found to be protective against obesity while the other raised the risk of becoming obese. Results also showed that people with the abnormal allele of the gene were significantly more likely to say that they had high hunger levels and were unable to control their food intake. The researchers suspect that people with the abnormal allele of the GAD2 gene build up a larger than normal quantity of GABA, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in appetite control, in the hypothalamus and that it is this excess of GABA that drives them to eat more than normal. The identification of the gene could help doctors to develop a screening program to identify people at high risk of developing obesity in the future.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Public Library of Science, 3rd November 2003.
