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How fat genes differ from thin ones

Resequencing effort unpicks genetics of body extremes.

Researchers have used a new technique to hunt for rare genetic quirks that explain why some people are extremely fat or very thin.

Read the story here.

Posted by Nicola Jones on March 16, 2007 06:22 PM |

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Five hundred generations ago, prior to inception of agriculture, what we now call the metabolic syndrome was a naturally selected trait that enhanced survival prospects. Paolithic hunter-gatherers, who were genetically disposed to eat voraciously whenever food was available, were more likely to survive those periods when food was scarce. That such individuals were more likely to develop diabetes and related cardiovascular diseases later in life, was of no consequence. Life expectancies were short anyway, and it only mattered that they reached reproductive ages, for their genes to be passed on.

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Posted by: Lance | March 20, 2007 05:01 PM

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