At the University of Copenhagen and Icahn School of Medicine, a group of researchers uncovered genes that may be associated with increased levels of body fat. The new discovery may also be beneficial for the protection against some diseases and negative impacts of obesity.
The findings appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Metabolism.
From the study: “The identified genes seem to benefit our health by helping to maintain a healthy fat tissue. Some of the genes may offer targets for the development of new therapies that lower the risk of diabetes and heart disease by improving the health of our fat tissue.”
“We used a data-driven approach in this study, which led us to find new genes associated with fat tissue health, instead of the known obesity genes associated with central nervous system, which control satiety and are typically linked to unhealthy obesity,” said one author of fhe study, in a press release of the findings.
The new findings are a big step forward to developing more robust treatment approaches for people suffering from diabetes.
The study was authored by Lam O. Huang, Alexander Rauch, Eugenia Mazzaferro, Michael Preuss, among others.
