So, how many genes are there now that are linked to being fat? They just added 6 more, and what do they want to do with that information? It sure isn't going to be used to give us fat people a break for being fat. They want to use it to come up with drugs to control our appetites (because of course, you know it's your unfettered appetite that is making you fat because those darn genes just won't let you exist on a starvation diet).
"Today's findings are a major step forward in understanding how the human body regulates weight," Dr. Alan Guttmacher, Acting director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, said in a statement.
"This study essentially doubles in one fell swoop the number of known and replicated genetic factors contributing to obesity as a public health problem," added Dr. Kari Stefansson, Chief Executive Officer of DeCODE Genetics of Iceland, who led a team that made similar findings in a separate study.
I'm sorry, Dr. Stefansson, being fat is not a public health problem. Having a communicable disease is a public health problem, and no one is going to catch "teh fatness" from me, no matter how close to me they get, or how many bodily fluids we swap.
"One of the most notable aspects of these discoveries is that most of these new risk factors are near genes that regulate processes in the brain," added Stefansson, whose company hopes to sell genetic tests based on such discoveries.
Yeah, I thought so. This isn't about anyone's health, it's a money-making venture (why am I not surprised?). You're going to sell a test to see if people have the genes that make them fat, but you don't have a fucking clue as to how you can possibly make them permanently, safely thin. Not to mention that getting thin may not make fat people any healthier than they were when they were fat, and you can't guarantee that they will be healthier.
"This suggests that as we work to develop better means of combating obesity, including using these discoveries as the first step in developing new drugs, we need to focus on the regulation of appetite at least as much as on the metabolic factors of how the body uses and stores energy," Stefansson said.
"These new variants may point to valuable new drug targets," he added.
Ok, appetite is only part of the equation, and a small part at that. How one's body uses and stores energy seems to be a bigger part of that equation, and just altering the appetite isn't going to do a whole hell of a lot of good. Because one's body is pretty damned good at getting around any appetite suppression method you all have come up with so far. Each body needs the amount of energy it needs, and if you try to short it on that amount of energy, you're fucking up the whole system.
But it gives you an excuse to come up with more drugs to push on people who are desperate to fit into an unattainable ideal, which will make you millions/billions of dollars, and probably do a lot of damage to the health of the people on whom you are pushing those drugs (can we say phen-fen, just as one example?).
"We know that environmental factors, such as diet, play a role in obesity, but this research further provides evidence that genetic variation plays a significant role in an individual's predisposition to obesity," said the genome institute's Dr. Eric Green.
No shit, Sherlock! Genetics plays a significant role in whether people are fat or not, but all you can come up with are drugs to regulate appetite. FAIL, assholes, MASSIVE FAIL!!!!!!
ETA - At least they aren't quoting that old statistic of 320,000 deaths a year caused by OMGTEHFATZ! They've got it down to 100,000 deaths a year now (which is still more than actually are caused by fat).
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