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Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
New genetic test could predict if you'll get condition suffered by 100million Americans decades before it develops
Genetic testing may predict your odds of becoming obese years - possibly even decades - before the condition strikes, researchers have revealed. A group of 600 researchers worldwide compiled genetic data from 5million people, the largest and most diverse dataset to date. They used that data to create a polygenic risk score, a person's genetic predisposition for a specific disease. In this case, it determined the odds of having a higher body mass index (BMI) in adulthood. The team found the score could be used to predict a person's risk of becoming obese as an adult - even for people as young as five years old. This could be instrumental for early intervention and preventing obesity - and its coexisting conditions. Ruth Loos, study co-author and professor at the University of Copenhagen's Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, said: 'Childhood is the best time to intervene.' The score also was found to be up to twice as effective as those used in doctors offices based on factors like high blood pressure, heart disease, diet and exercise. Additionally, researchers found people with high polygenic risk scores were also more likely to regain weight after losing it through diet and exercise compared to those with lower scores. Loos added: 'Obesity is not only about genetics, so genetics alone can never accurately predict obesity. 'For the general obesity that we see all over the world, we need other factors such as lifestyle that need to be part of the predictions.' The findings come as more than 40 percent of Americans adults - 100million - are now obese, meaning they have a BMI of at least 30. Rates among young people in particular have surged the most, with quadruple the amount of teens being obese worldwide compared to the 1990s. The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, used genetic data from 5.1million people worldwide collected from 200 studies and 23andMe. The majority (71 percent) were of European ancestry, while 14 percent were of Hispanic ethnicity, eight percent were predominantly East Asian, five percent were African or African American and 1.5 percent were South Asian. Overall, the researchers found polygenic risk scores accounted for about 18 percent of a person with European ancestry's risk for having a high BMI as an adult compared to 8.5 percent on average for scores used by physicians. The remaining percentage is made up of lifestyle related factors like diet and exercise. However, this rate varied depending on ethnicity. For East Asian Americans, the score explained 16 percent of the risk for high BMI, though it was just 2.2 percent for people from rural Uganda and five percent for African ancestry overall. Because most participants were European, the team said further research is needed to look at other groups, particularly those of African descent. Based on the polygenic risk score calculated in the study, more than 80 percent of a person's risk for obesity can be explained by factors other than genetics, including where people live, foods they have access to and how much they exercise. Dr Roy Kim, a pediatric endocrinologist at Cleveland Clinic Children's who was not involved with the research, told NBC News: 'Behavioral things are really important. Their environment, their access to healthy food, exercise opportunities, even their knowledge about healthy foods all affect a person's obesity risk.' In children, BMI increased at a faster rate in those with a higher genetic predisposition than those with a lower risk, which was most evident at just two and a half years old. Additionally, individuals with higher polygenic risk scores lost more weight in the first year of lifestyle interventions like diet and exercise than a control group. However, people with high scores who lost at least three percent of their baseline weight in the first year had a higher risk of regaining it in the years that followed compared to a control group. Dr Joel Hirschhorn, study author and professor of pediatrics and genetics at Boston Children's Hospital, told The New York Times: 'There is definitely predictive value in genetics.' He added that with the new study 'we are now a lot closer to being able to use genetics in a potentially meaningful predictive way.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
I'm an eye doctor and this is the dangerous condition on the rise that everyone is missing... you must take this simple precaution to save your vision as you age
Examining his patient's red, painfully inflamed eye, Australian ophthalmologist Emil Kurniawan was in no doubt that she had a pterygium, a benign but potentially vision-altering growth on the surface of the eye. Linked to prolonged UV exposure, it is commonly found in people living in sunny regions – including many parts of Australia.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Durrell return threatened gecko species to Mauritius
A conservation project in Jersey has helped return threatened geckos back into the Mauritius wildlife after being rescued from an oil spill in lesser night geckos were rescued as part of an emergency response after a bulk carrier ran aground on a coral reef with 4,000 tonnes of fuel, causing an ecological Conservation said it had cared for and bred 30 lesser night geckos at Jersey Zoo over the last five years, and was returning 57 eggs to the remote islet of Ilot Goetz, interim director of zoo operations at Jersey Zoo and curator of herpetology, managed the team that looked after the geckos at the zoo. He said: "Our team had to replicate the natural habitat for the geckos and provide highly specialised care. "Every individual survived and the geckos have since bred very successfully." Durrell said 88% of its 57 eggs had hatched successfully and that it had plans to replicate the translocation on an annual basis and at a larger Brewer, CEO of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, said it had done its part to maintain the species for the said: "The successful return of these gecko eggs to the wild is a hopeful moment in a story that could have ended very differently. "It shows what's possible when science, commitment and collaboration come together to protect life on the edge." The lesser night gecko is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened initiative was a partnership between Durrell, the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, the Government of Mauritius National Parks and Conservation Service and with support from the Government's Forestry Nik Cole, island restoration manager, said the project had provided a "much-needed lifeline for this precious species". He said: "Transporting these eggs halfway across the world and having such a high hatching rate is no mean feat. "For our first repatriation effort, we couldn't have asked for better results, it's truly phenomenal."
