Tue, 26 Oct 2010

Extreme obesity may have genetic cause

WITTEN-HERDECKE (NNA) – People who suffer from extreme obesity may find it difficult to lose weight because of a peculiarity in their metabolism. This idea is being investigated by a research team headed by Prof. Thomas Reinehr at the pædiatric clinic of Witten/Herdecke University (UWH) in Germany.

In the study, some 1,000 children and adolescents suffering from extreme obesity were treated. They were given nutritional and behavioural advice, the parents were included, and exercise was also part of the treatment.

First results have shown that only 70 percent of the children responded positively to the treatment. “We do not know why, but are investigating possible reasons,” Prof. Reinehr said.

Researchers in Marburg were the first to suspect that changes in a particular gene, the so-called MC4R gene, could provide an explanation. The mutation leads children to be able to lose weight through changes in lifestyle but in contrast to children without the mutation they then put the weight on again.

Then, last year, the UWH researchers were able to take a further step: “There was a suspicion that the effectiveness of the hormone leptin, which inhibits appetite, was impaired. We were able to show in a study that the leptin concentration was highest in obese children without weight loss,” Reinehr explained. The implication of this was that people with obesity were not receiving the message from the hormone because the necessary receptors were missing or not functioning, the researchers say.

The findings were presented earlier this month by the UWH on a “Research Day” in the faculty of health at which it presented its approach of integrative and personalised health provision.

The term “integrative” means that all disciplines and forms of medicine are used which can help patients – conventional medicine equally with Chinese medicine or anthroposophic medicine.

In order to find the best treatment, the personality of the patient had to be taken into account as much as the latest research results: “With personalised medicine we refer on the one hand to the fact that increasing numbers of medicines and treatments take account of the specific genetic makeup of the individual patient. And we want to extend that, on the other hand, by communicating to doctors starting out in their career that they should not only look at the physical side of the patient but also the psychological, spiritual or economic dimension in the case history,” Prof. Eckhart Hahn, dean of the faculty of health, said.

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Item: 101026-01EN Date: 26 October 2010

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