Many of us are beginning to become concerned about diet and weight. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. Over the past couple of decades, obesity rates in the U.S. have skyrocketed. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, upwards of 64% of adults were overweight or obese in 1999-2000. That’s a 36% increase from the 1976-1980 survey results. Just being overweight is unhealthy, but being obese can be downright dangerous!
If you are obese, you are at increased risk for sleep apnea, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even some forms of cancer, such as kidney cancer and breast cancer (after menopause). More and more links between weight and health problems are being found.
Because of this spotlight on the battle of the bulge, scientists are working hard at finding ways to prevent or treat obesity. To this end, a study was recently done to see if the malfunction of a specific gene could cause weight gain.
The study, done at a German laboratory, involved mice. The researchers bioengineered a group of mice not to have the “brain-specific homeobox transcription factor” (Bsx) gene. They used normal mice with the gene as control subjects. The researchers watched the mice for months, checking their weight and watching their movements. Both sets of rodents were fed the same healthy food.
At three months old, the mice without the Bsx gene had an average of three grams of body fat. This was about twice as much body fat as the control mice had. The reason for this difference seemed to be spontaneous movement. The regular mice made frequent movements (even just cleaning themselves or scratching) and roamed around their cage area. The researchers set up an infrared beam across the cages. The mice with the Bsx gene passed through the beam around 5,000 times a day. In comparison, the genetically engineered mice hardly moved at all. These lazy rodents only traversed the beam 500 times — that’s quite a difference! We all know that movement burns off calories. But apparently random movements, like fidgeting, do more than we thought!
The whole point of this study was to try to identify the gene responsible for spontaneous movement. And it looks like the German researchers have done it. The Bsx gene is an important find. If further research also links a mutation in this gene to weight gain in humans, then scientists might be able to fix it. One day, there could be a drug therapy that fills the gap left by a malfunction in the Bsx gene. One day, the obesity rates could be much lower!
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Watch What You Eat While Watching TVTags: Breast Cancer, Kidney Cancer, obesity
