Anti-Obesity Gene Found in Southeast Asians and Southern China

Malaysia is currently the country with the second highest percentage of people with obesity problems in Southeast Asia after Brunei. This also causes Malaysia to record high cases of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer. The irony here is that scientists from China have discovered a gene that lowers the risk of obesity among the people of Southeast Asia and South China.A study by Professor Jin Li and Associate Professor Zheng Hongxiang from Fudan University found that the M7b1a1 gene on mitochondrial DNA reduces the risk of obesity because it lowers mitochondrial function. Therefore it does not store energy and produces more heat which encourages the body not to store fat. Mitochondria are the “power stations” that produce energy for the cell to function.According to the presented hypothesis, M7b1a1 appeared in the human body to enable them to live during the stone age. It then evolved in Southeast Asian and Southern Chinese populations over a period of 15,000 years.This may be one of the reasons why China has a low obesity rate (ranked 175 out of 193 countries) when compared to other developed countries. Southeast Asian countries on average have a lower obesity rate than in Europe and North America.Two researchers see a deeper study of M7b1a1 could help scientists understand more about obesity and how it can be controlled in the human body. This study was published in the Journal of Genetics and Genomics.

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Anti-Obesity Gene Found in Southeast Asians and Southern China

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