Three mutations are to blame for half of obesity cases

An international team of researchers has found three mutations associated with a high risk of developing obesity at an early age. According to scientists, the new genetic risk factors they have identified together may be responsible for approximately 50 percent of cases of severe obesity.

The staff of Imperial College London, the National Research Center in Nord-Pas de Calais (France), and several research institutes in Europe and Canada, compared the results of the genome decoding of 1,380 children and adults with severe obesity with the data of 1,416 volunteers without overweight problems. As a result, 38 genetic variations were found, which were significantly more common in obese patients. Then, more than 14 thousand European residents were tested for the presence of these variations.

As a result, three mutations were associated with a significant increase in the risk of obesity in children and severe obesity in adults. One of them is localized near the PTER gene (its function is still unknown) and, according to the authors of the study, is associated with approximately every fifth case of obesity in children and with a third of cases of severe obesity among adult Europeans. The second mutation is located in the NPC1 gene, which some studies have linked to appetite control. According to scientists, it is associated with approximately 10 percent of childhood obesity and 14 percent of adult obesity. Finally, the third mutation is associated with the MAF gene, which controls the production of the hormones insulin and glucagon. The authors attribute 6 percent of cases of obesity in children and 16 percent of cases of severe obesity in adults to its presence.

In order to more accurately determine the prevalence of the detected mutations, their interaction and impact on the risk of obesity, additional research is required. Nevertheless, scientists are confident that in the future the data they have obtained can form the basis of genetic tests for early detection of the risk of developing obesity in a child, which will ensure timely prevention and treatment of the disease.

Medical News Today: Childhood Obesity Linked To Newly Discovered Genes