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A gene linked to obesity is thought to trigger hunger pangs and affect a person's ability to resist impulse eating, a new study has found.Researchers at the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. said it could explain why people with the gene struggle to maintain a healthy weight as they age, suggesting some people are predisposed to becoming obese.
Various studies have linked versions of the FTO gene to chronic obesity, but scientists have struggled to determine how the gene affects a person's likelihood to be obese, Ruth Loos, director of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York told CBS News.
The new study has found middle-aged and older people with one or two copies of the FTO gene, appear to eat more high-calorie and fatty foods as they get age.
Scientists at the National Institutes for Health in the U.S. have found a gene linked to obesity could trigger hunger pangs in carriers, and affect their ability to resist the impulse to eat high-calorie, fatty foods. File picture
Scans of the 700 participants in the study found lower brain function in the parts of the brain that govern a person's impulsivity and perceptions of food texture and taste.
Senior author of the report, Dr Madhav Thambisetty, chief of clinical and translational neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging's Laboratory of Behavioural Neuroscience said: 'Sure enough, people who carry one or two copies of the FTO variant show increased intake of high-calorie or fatty food as they age.
'There may be a common biological factor underlying both the risk for obesity during aging as well as obesity-related behavior like your ability to resist impulse eating.'
The findings, published in the journal of Molecular Psychiatry, found 45 per cent of participants had at least one copy of the FTO gene.
Around 16 per cent of those taking part had two copies of the pro-obesity gene - giving a greater risk of a person becoming obese.
A person's body mass index increased in those participants with one or two copies of the FTO gene variant.
Researchers then compared the brain scans of those with the gene, and those without, to detect differences in brain function.
The findings suggest those carriers of the FTO-gene have a predisposition to becoming obese
The results showed people with the FTO-variant had lower activity in the part of their brains scientists believe controls impulses and the response to taste and texture of food.
A final step in the study saw the scientists review participants' personality and dietary habits.
They found those with a genetic risk of becoming obese, those with the FTO gene, were more likely to be more impulsive and eat more fatty foods as they aged.
The results mean for those with a greater genetic risk of obesity will face an uphill battle to maintain a healthy weight.
But Ms Loos said the study does not prove a genetic predisposition to obesity means a person will be obese.
She said: 'You may be genetically susceptible, but by living a healthy lifestyle you can overcome your genetics. You are not destined to be obese.'
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