Here\u2019s the skinny on thinness: For some, it\u2019s genetic.<\/p>\n

Scientists have identified a skinny gene which predisposes some to staying lean no matter their lifestyle.<\/p>\n

In a study published Thursday in the journal Cell<\/a>, a group of international authors released their findings that individuals with certain variations in a gene known as ALK are physically more resistant to weight gain than most.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know these people: It\u2019s around 1% of the population,\u201d says senior author and University of British Columbia medical genetics professor Josef Penninger in a press release.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cThey can eat whatever they want and be metabolically healthy. They eat a lot, they don\u2019t do squats all the time, but they just don\u2019t gain weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penninger and his team analyzed the DNA of more than 47,000 people aged 20 to 44 years old via the Estonian Biobank, and found some thin individuals had a unique variation in their ALK gene. ALK has a reputation as a gene which drives tumor developments, often mutating due to certain cancers, but relatively little is known about its noncancerous role.<\/p>\n

Now, though, researchers believe some mutations in ALK might be involved in weight gain and could be targeted to fight obesity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think about it, it\u2019s realistic that we could shut down ALK and reduce ALK function to see if we did stay skinny,\u201d says Penninger. \u201cALK inhibitors are used in cancer treatments already. It\u2019s targetable. We could possibly inhibit ALK, and we actually will try to do this in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Testing the theory in mice and flies, researchers found that the critters and insects were made resistant to diet-induced obesity when their ALK gene was deleted.<\/p>\n

The approach is a novel one in the field of weight gain, where far more studies focus on the causes of obesity, not thinness.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody studies obesity and the genetics of obesity,\u201d says Penninger. \u201cWe thought, \u2018Let\u2019s just turn it around and start a new research field.\u2019 Let\u2019s study thinness.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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May 22, 2020 | 1:20pm Here\u2019s the skinny on thinness: For some, it\u2019s genetic. Scientists have identified a skinny gene which predisposes some to staying lean no matter their lifestyle. In a study published Thursday in the journal Cell, a group of international authors released their findings that individuals with certain variations in a gene…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[4484,4483],"class_list":{"0":"post-34719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-predisposes","9":"tag-skinny"},"yoast_head":"\n