WIKIMEDIA, NCI, BILL BRANSON
Beyond diet and exercise, recent studies in mice and humans have suggested that factors such as exposure to antibiotics and the makeup of the gut microbiome can affect an individual’s obesity risk. Interactions between these environmental influences and genetic risk factors remain poorly understood.
One obesity-associated genetic variant has a greater impact on the risk of obesity for people born more recently, according to a study published last week (December 29) in PNAS. Researchers analyzed changes in body mass index (BMI) over time in a cohort of more than 5,000 people enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study in 1948, as well as their offspring, whose health has been tracked since 1971.
The study focused on a particular variant in the fat mass and obesity associated ...
