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Author: Spud
Date: 08-28-03 09:42
I found this article while doing my daily news search for obesity related news.
Enjoy,
Spud
457/183/157
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Researchers have successfully blocked a gene believed to be a major regulator of hunger, causing rats to eat less and lose weight.
They hope the process can be replicated in humans and become a treatment for obesity.
Using DNA to block a gene in the brain known as FIT, researchers from a biotech company, AGT Biosciences, and Deakin University in Melbourne found that, in four days, the rats were eating 40 per cent less food, and had lost 5 to 8 per cent in body weight.
The study's findings were presented at the International Diabetes Federation Conference in Paris this week.
AGT Biosciences' director of business development, James Campbell, said this showed that FIT was a key regulator of appetite, and could provide a way to control obesity in people.
"This is a very strong lead in the search for a therapeutic treatment for obesity," he said.
The researchers identified the FIT gene in 2000, as part of astudy of obesity using Israeli sand rats. When the normally slender rats were given access to as much food as they wanted some grew fatter than others, ranging from 110 grams to 280 grams.
A predisposition to obesity was unlikely to be caused by a single gene, Dr Campbell said, "but FIT may lead to a treatment that will work for some people".
Regular exercise and a healthy diet were the best methods of weight control, he said, but some people had genes that made them more likely to be obese, given the right environmental trigger.
If the research continues as hoped, a drug blocking FIT could be available in five to seven years.
The chief executive of the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity, Tim Gill, said the research was important in developing a drug that might help some obese people control their weight.
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Author: SassyGirl
Date: 08-28-03 12:50
Thank you for the article Spud. I think I saw something about this on 20/20 or 48 Hours not too long ago. Too bad it is going to be so long before any kind of help for it will be available to consumers. It could help future obese people and that is a great thing!!!
Smiles, Renee :)
"We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."
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