研究發現肥胖基因決定了你的形體和身材
'Obesity genes' help determine size and shape, studies find
研究發現肥胖基因決定了你的形體和身材More than a fifth of the weight differences between people can be explained by common "obesity genes", according to research that confirms some people are naturally at greater risk of becoming overweight.
人與人之間體重差別超過五分之一就可以用共同的"肥胖基因"解釋，根據研究證明了一些人天生就有很大的超重風險。The study, involving more than 300,000 people, highlights 97 gene variants that have a particularly powerful influence on weight, many of which appear to work by changing the way appetite is regulated in the brain, rather than altering basic metabolism.
涉及30多萬人的這項研究，強調97個基因變異對體重有特別強大的影響，其中很多基因變異似乎是通過改變大腦的食慾調控方式起作用的，而不是基本的新陳代謝。
Elizabeth Speliotes, a genetic epidemiologist at the University of Michigan and senior author, said: "Looking at obesity, we didn't necessarily expect to see genes that work in the brain. In retrospect it's not that surprising that appetite and feeding pathways have a big role."
密歇根大學遺傳流行病學家和資深作家-Elizabeth Speliotes，說："着眼於肥胖，我們必然不希望看到基因在大腦裏起作用。回顧過去，食慾和餵養途徑起重要作用這點並不驚奇。""Some people are potentially more addicted to food," he said. "They simply find it harder to suppress their appetite."
他說："有些人更沉迷於食物，他們坦白自己很難抑制食慾。"
The findings also reveal the existence of genetic variants that increase a person's chances of being obese, but simultaneously protect against diabetes and heart disease, adding credibility to the idea that some people can be overweight and healthy.
結果也揭示基因變異的存在增加了一個人的肥胖機率，但同時預防糖尿病和心臟疾病，增加了有些人可能是超重和健康的可信度。Speliotes predicted that in future people could be genetically screened to assess whether their weight was likely to raise their risk of disease - and for a fraction of people, being overweight might not be linked to health problems. "There are almost definitely very healthy obese individuals," she said. "And who cares about obesity if it's not going to affect your health?"
Speliotes預測，未來人們可以通過基因篩選評估體重是否可能加大他們的疾病風險，或者對於部分人來說，超重可能與健康問題不相關。她說"如果肥胖不影響你的健康，非常健康的肥胖者誰會在乎肥胖呢？"The research, published in the journal Nature, analysed the genomes of 339,224 individuals and sifted through the data to pinpoint genes that had an effect on body mass index (BMI).
這項研究分析了339224個人的基因組，並通過數據篩選查明基因對體重指數（BMI）的影響，此研究發表在Nature雜誌上。譯文屬原創，未經許可不得轉載！
