Obesity Gene Linked To Alzheimer’s As Well

Recent research conducted in the United States has shown that the same gene that is the culprit for raising people’s obesity risk is also responsible for raising their risk of getting Alzheimer’s. This study was led by the University of California Los Angeles and funded by the National Institutes of Health and private industry.

The gene implicated in this is the FTO gene, of the Fat Mass and Obesity related gene, a variant of which is present in as much as 50% of the American population that is of European extraction.

One quarter Hispanics and 15% African Americans and Asian Americans have the gene.

It is this gene that causes people to have an extra inch around the waist, carry more pounds and puts them at risk of obesity.

This gene is carried by as much as one third of the total American population that puts them more at risk of becoming obese and now it would seem it is also responsible for neurodegenerative diseases in later life.

The study is part of a 5 year project aimed at understanding what can help the brain resist degenerative disease and found that carriers of this FTO gene had consistently less brain tissue than those who did not carry the gene.

Source: Medical News Today