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Gene Variant That Increases Obesity Risk, Decreases Brain Volume

by Rajshri on Apr 22 2010 11:23 PM

A new study has found that a common gene variant linked to obesity may also increase the risk of brain diseases.

The study found that a variant called FTO, which is linked to obesity, may in fact reduce the volume of brains as well. The researchers at UCLA arrived at this conclusion after examining the brain scans of 200 healthy volunteers.

The researchers report that people with the FTO variant had an average of 8 percent less tissue in the frontal lobes and 12% less tissue in the occipital lobe of the brain.

The details are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 


Source-Medindia
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