London: If you think obesity is caused by
overeating, think again, for scientists have claimed that it`s
actually linked to genetic defect in kids.
A team at Cambridge University, led by Sadaf Farooqi,
has carried out a research and found that obesity in kids is
caused not by overeating or overfeeding, but due to a fault
in their chromosomes.
"We have found that part of chromosome 16 can be
deleted in some families, and people with this deletion have
severe obesity from a young age," Sadaf Farooqi, who runs the
university`s metabolic research laboratories, was quoted by
`The Sunday Times` as saying.
The results have emerged from comparing the genomes of
300 obese children with those of 7,000 healthy volunteers.
This showed many of the obese youngsters were missing
the section of chromosome 16 that contains a gene known as
SH2B1, which plays a key role in regulating weight. "They were
left with a strong drive to eat and gained weight easily,"
said Farooqi.
Some of the 300 obese youngsters in the study were
already on "at risk" registers as it was assumed their parents
were overfeeding them. They have now been removed from the
register, Farooqi said.
The findings have been published in the latest edition
of the `Nature` journal.
PTI
