Improving our understanding of how genetic variants alter body weight regulation and diabetes risk

Summary

We all have genes which control things about us like hair colour, eye colour, weight etc. We also have lots of variation in our genes which is why we all look different. Such genetic variants are very common. Scientists have thought for some time now that these common genetic variants might contribute to inherited differences in people’s susceptibility to weight gain and diabetes. However, this idea has been very difficult to prove.

Scientists have identified common genetic variants in a number of genes which appear to have an effect on body weight and tendency to develop diabetes later in life. How these genetic changes alter the tendency to gain weight and risk of diabetes is currently unknown.

The purpose of this study is to improve our understanding of how genetic variants alter body weight regulation and diabetes risk. Specifically we would like to measure how much you eat and how much energy your body uses up under carefully controlled conditions. The reason for wanting to understand this issue better is to try to identify more effective ways of preventing weight gain and reducing the incidence of diabetes.

Participation: For this study we recruited 39 participants from the Cambridge BioResource. Participant stayed in the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility (WTCRF) at Addenbrooke’s Hospital for 3 days. During their stay the research team closely monitored their intake and use of energy to try to identify more effective methods for preventing weight gain and reducing the incidence of diabetes.

Organisation:This study is organised by Dr David Savage at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry and the University of Cambridge.