Fat gene mystery unravelled by scientists .

The
mystery of how some people can eat and never put on weight while others
struggle to shed a single ounce may have finally been solved by
scientists.



Slight differences in a single gene may be responsible for
suppressing the metabolism, making its carriers permanently sluggish
and
unable to burn calories as effectively. In contrast, thinner people
seem to use up energy more rapidly, expending it in excess heat.
Scientists
have long suspected that genetic differences were responsible for
weight
gain and singled out the FTO gene as the main culprit.People with a
high-risk version of the gene weigh on average three kilograms more
than those with a low-risk version.But they could not understand how it
worked, theorising that it could influence appetite and food intake.Now
it appears the gene may control the rate of the metabolism. In
experiments on mice those with the FTO gene entirely, were found to
remain lean.The scientists, led by Dr Ulrich Ruther, from the
University of Düsseldorf in Germany, found the mice remained thin
despite eating large amounts of food and being inactive. The
research, reported in the journal Nature, suggested the mice were
burning
up energy faster than animals with a functioning FTO gene. It is
thought the gene may limit the amount of energy given off in the form
of heat. Professor
Stephen O'Rahilly, a metabolism expert from Cambridge University, said:
"Genetic variation close to the FTO gene is definitely associated with
obesity in humans, but, until now, it was not clear whether this
genetic variation was likely to influence obesity by altering the
expression or function of the FTO gene itself or some neighbouring
gene. "This work shows that if mice lack the FTO gene they are
very lean because they spontaneously burn off enormous amounts of
energy. "This is a bit puzzling as several recent studies have
suggested that the variant in the human FTO gene that increases the
risk of obesity has effects on appetite and food intake but does not
seem to have any effect on how quickly energy is burned off. "So,
this work provides a crucial piece of evidence supporting the notion
that the FTO gene itself is likely to be involved in the effects of
common human genetic variants on body fat."The breakthrough could herald a raft of new treatments for obesity. Dr
Ruther added: "This finding will promote research into the development
of drugs that modulate FTO activity. We strongly suspect that, in man,
FTO might have more complex effects on both food intake and energy
expenditure than has been so far suggested and that it is still not
clear what the overall effect of inhibiting FTO in humans would be."





At last someone has identified that some people can eat as much as the like and not put on weight and others just have to look at food and put it on.

Guess which camp I'm in grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :x