Research team Cambridge university under the guidance of professor Ines Barroso analyzed the genome of more than 150 thousand people and isolated the sequence of six variants of genes that are associated with an increase in body mass index (BMI) – a standard medical indicator that is calculated by the ratio of weight and height. Previously, scientists have already suggested that the tendency to be overweight is of a genetic nature. The revolutionary discovery of Ines Baroso is that for her research she collected the largest group of subjects, moreover, it included not only overweight people (as was the case in early works on the same topic), but also those who never experienced no such problem. It turned out that these genes in a certain chain of relationships are found in 79% of obese subjects, and only in 20% of slender ones.
What we already guessed turned out to be a reality: while one person gets fat just from looking at donuts, another can gobble them up all day long and not add a single gram. But do not rush to ritually burn a gym membership and stand under the banner radical body positive… It is not that simple. Of course, the program inherent in us cannot be changed. But anyway 20% skinnythat carry the “completeness genes” became an exception and did not follow the path gaining extra pounds… Scientists have thoroughly investigated the parameters of the life of these “lucky ones” and it turned out that the secret is simple: they led a healthy lifestyle, sweated in gyms, went in for jogging and set themselves reasonable food restrictions… By the way, among them there was not a single anorexic or a person with other eating disorders. That is, genetics in this case is not a fate at all, but only verdict for overweight people work on yourself many times more than natural-born slender women.
But what about the 21% of the subjects who, according to the idea of nature, did not have a tendency to be overweight and still entered the fat club? There is nothing mystical here either. Geneticists emphasize that the propensity for “Alimetric” (food) obesity can be not only genetic, but also acquired: the brain can launch a command to accumulate extra pounds as an SOS command, in response to severe stress, serious illness, or harmonic breakdown. By the way, “Obesity genes” interact with the same areas of the brain that can independently trigger the mechanism of weight gain.
But maybe harmful genes can be taken and turned off, thereby making all people perfect? Geneticists do not recommend it. Because each gene (and even more so a whole sequence of genes) is responsible not for one, but for several programs inherent in us at once. Perhaps, trying to “turn off” the tendency to obesity, we at the same time “kill”, for example, the ability to learn languages or music, or, even worse, defense against viros, or even block entire areas of brain activity. So far, the exact answer to the question, what else is the chain responsible for? “Genes of completeness” scientists do not, there is only an assumption that they can be associated with abstract thinking and the ability to taste.
Science is not yet able to decipher the entire functionality of this or that gene. But it is already possible to put into practice the revolutionary discovery of geneticists. For example, in the near future, genetic tests may be created to identify a child’s predisposition to obesity while still in the womb, which will then help coordinate his physical activity and nutritional system. The development of new drugs that can genetically regulate appetite and stimulate metabolism will take much longer. Professor Barroso emphasizes that such drugs require long-term clinical trials, since the fullness of the consequences of their use can be understood only after several decades. So for now, correcting our genetic program remains a plot for science fiction novels.