Obesity gene linked to brain shrinkage

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LOS ANGELES, April 20 (UPI) -- More than one-third of the U.S. population is at risk for diseases such as Alzheimer's due to a variant of the obesity gene, U.S. researchers said.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found the same gene -- allele, from the fat mass and obesity associated gene, the FTO gene, which increases risk of gaining weight -- is also linked to brain shrinkage.

Senior study author Paul Thompson, a UCLA professor of neurology and colleagues said the FTO variant puts more than one-third of the U.S. population at risk for a disease, such as Alzheimer's.

The researchers generated three-dimensional "maps" of brain volume differences in 206 healthy elderly subjects using magnetic resonance imaging from 58 sites in the United States.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found consistently less brain tissue -- up to less than 12 percent of some parts of the brain -- in those with the FTO allele compared with non-carriers of the variant.

In addition, the study said the differences of brain volume could not be directly attributed to other obesity-related factors such as cholesterol levels, diabetes or high blood pressure.

"If you have the bad FTO gene, your weight affects your brain adversely in terms of tissue loss," Thompson said in a statement. "If you don't carry FTO, higher body weight doesn't translate into brain deficits."