Obesity gene variant linked to brain atrophy

摘要

An obesity-related gene variant carried by nearly half of all Western Europeans may also be associated with brain degeneration. Previous studies have found that an allele within the "fat mass and obesity-associated" (FTO) gene, which is associated with higher than average weight and waist circumference in humans, is carried by 46% of Western and Central Europeans, and 16% of Asians. Obesity is a known risk factor for cognitive decline and is associated with detectable differences in the brain of obese people compared to those of healthy weight. April Ho et al. (pp. 8404-8409) generated 3D maps of over 200 healthy elderly subjects' brains, and found a pattern of diminished brain volume in carriers of the FTO allele compared to noncarriers.