科学家鉴别出引起青少年暴饮暴食的特殊基因

  近日，一项发表于国际杂志Obesity上的研究论文中，来自昆士兰大学等处的研究人员通过研究表示，青少年的暴饮暴食或和基因突变直接相关。研究者David Evans及其同事分析了6000名年龄在14岁及16岁的青少年的数据发现，和肥胖风险相关的遗传突变或可帮助预测个体暴饮暴食。
  鉴别出特殊的基因突变或可帮助理解为何年轻人更易于有暴饮暴食的倾向，该研究在未来或可帮助开发新型策略在个体进入青少年阶段之前预测其暴饮暴食的风险，尤其是对于那些过重的个体而言，他们会面对更多的健康问题。
  大约10%的成年人和青少年处于暴饮暴食的状态，而这往往被定义为个体在缺乏控制的前提下过度饮食；众所周知，遗传和环境因子的结合会引发饮食障碍，截至目前为止很少有研究来揭示特殊基因如何增加青少年患暴饮暴食的行为。研究者指出，如果青年人机体的FTO基因位置存在特殊的突变，那么这些个体发生暴饮暴食的可能性就为20%至30%。
  最后研究者Evans说道，这种暴饮暴食的模式在女孩儿中尤为明显，而女孩如果存在FTO基因突变就会增加其30%的暴饮暴食的可能性；该研究目前尚处于早期阶段，后期还需要更多的研究来帮助揭示暴饮暴食行为发生的原因，暴饮暴食行为的发生非常复杂，因为其是由许多遗传和环境因素所影响并决定的。（转化医学网360zhyx.com）
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转化医学网推荐的原文摘要：

Are obesity risk genes associated with binge eating in adolescence?
Obesity    DOI: 10.1002/oby.21147
Nadia Micali1,*, Alison E. Field2,3,4, Janet L. Treasure5 andDavid M. Evans6,7,8
Objective
Cognitions and behaviors characteristic of binge eating are associated with a polymorphism in the FTO gene, robustly related to body mass index (BMI) and obesity risk. We investigated the association between binge eating and the individual and combined effect of 32 SNPs robustly associated with BMI in a population-based sample. We hypothesized that higher BMI and binge eating might share a common genetic etiology.

Methods
Binge eating was assessed in adolescents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children at age 14 (n = 5,958) and 16 years (n = 4,948). We tested associations between 32 BMI-related SNPs and binge eating in crude and BMI-, age-, and gender-adjusted regression models.

Results
Crude analyses showed an association between binge eating and rs1558902 (FTO) that persisted after adjustment for BMI (OR = 1.20, P = 8 × 10−3). A weighted allelic score consisting of all 32 BMI-related SNPs was associated with binge eating (P = 8 × 10−4); this association attenuated (P = 0.08) when rs1558902 was removed from the weighted allelic score.

Conclusions
BMI-related genes are associated with adolescent binge eating, in particular an FTO polymorphism. Although replication is needed, our findings have biological plausibility and are consistent with a postulated effect of FTO on appetite and food intake. Future studies should aim to understand the mechanisms underlying the relationship between FTO, binge eating, and obesity.