There are lucky people who do not need to go to the gym and give up their favorite snacks in order to be slim. A joint group of scientists from Austria, Switzerland, Estonia and Canada has finally discovered their secret: structural features or the absence of the ALK gene. Moreover, the lucky ones do not have to be born. Means already exist with which to suppress the activity of this gene.
We all know such people: this is about one percent of the population. They can eat whatever they want and be metabolically healthy. They eat a lot, they don’t do squats all the time. They just don’t gain weight – Joseph Penninger, senior author of the study, speaks of genetically gifted owners of a slim physique.
In the course of the work, the specialists studied the data of the Estonian biobank, which includes samples of 47,102 people aged 20 to 44 years. The team compared the DNA of healthy thin people with the genome of people with normal weight and found ALK gene variants that are unique to slim-skinned individuals.
After conducting a series of experiments on mice and flies, the researchers found that both rodents and insects, after removal of ALK, became resistant to obesity caused by overeating. In addition, mice without ALK had less body fat than the rest of the animals, even if their physical activity and diet were exactly the same.
ALK has a bad reputation for oncogen. It often mutates, causing various cancers. Therefore, there are already drugs that can turn off this adoring gene to become a dangerous gene.
If you think about it, we can completely disable ALK and reduce its function. ALK inhibitors are already used in the treatment of cancer, – states professor Penninger.
Scientists are already planning further studies to find out how effective ALK inhibitors will be in treating obesity, and whether they will allow you to stay slim without exercise and diets.
Earlier, Reedus talked about a cheap cure for alcoholism, which turned out to be effective against obesity.
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