Scientists have found out why Americans are so fat and feeble-minded
Due to the "obesity gene", a third of Americans are at risk of senile dementiaCopper news
California scientists have found that a variant of the "obesity gene" FTO, carried by more than a third of Americans, is associated with a decrease in the volume of brain tissue in old age, which increases the risk of diseases such as, for example, Alzheimer's disease, reports PhysOrg (Obesity gene, carried by more than a third of the US population, leads to brain tissue loss).
Three years ago, it was discovered that about half of Americans whose ancestors were of European origin have a variant of the FTO gene, whose carriers weigh an average of 1.4-3.2 kilograms more and are more at risk of becoming obese than the owners of the "normal" variant of this gene. Subsequently, the "bad" variant of FTO was found in about 25 percent of Latinos, 15 percent of Blacks and 15 percent of Asian Americans, which means that more than a third of the US population are carriers of it.
As part of a large-scale five-year study of Alzheimer's disease, scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, using magnetic resonance imaging, compiled three-dimensional "maps" of the brain volume of 206 healthy elderly volunteers from 58 regions of the United States and compared them with the results of genetic analysis.
It turned out that carriers of the "bad" version of the FTO gene have, on average, 8 percent less tissue of the frontal lobes responsible for motivation and decision-making, and 12 percent less tissue of the occipital lobes responsible for vision and perception in general than people with the "normal" version of this gene. Moreover, such brain changes predisposing to senile dementia are not directly related to the factors accompanying obesity.
Given the prevalence of the "bad" variant of FTO, the head of the study, Paul Thompson, expressed concern about the data obtained. However, in his opinion, carriers of this gene variant can avoid obesity and loss of brain tissue through exercise and proper nutrition.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru21.04.2010