Can obesity be blamed on a gene?

By Tabitha Goodling
For The Daily Item

October 07, 2008 09:04 am

— Part 2 Yesterday: More and more waistlines are expanding across the state, and research in Danville may help determine why Valley residents keep getting heavier. Today: Can obesity be blamed on a gene?

Work is being done at the Geisinger Obesity Institute in Danville to determine if there is a gene that may make some patients resistant to weight loss.
Making such a determination might be “as easy as (taking) a blood test,” according to Dr. Christopher Still, DO, director of the institute.
If a patient has this gene, he said, “Surgery is the gold standard,” referring to the widely publicized gastric bypass surgery. The surgery involves removing part of the stomach and making a smaller stomach. The small intestine is connected to the new stomach. This helps the patient to feel “full” earlier than they normally would.
The result is more than weight loss — it may diminish problems such as diabetes.
A Lewisburg woman was featured on “60 Minutes” in April raving about her “cure” from Type 2 diabetes following gastric bypass surgery at Geisinger. Vicki Kerstetter said she no longer required insulin shots.
While Still says findings indicate a genetic link to obesity, it is not the only reason for the growing rates nationwide.
“The gene pool has not changed in 20 years. Genetics are an important part but not the only part,” he said. He lists food availability and composition, the amount of activity and exercise, and certain medications as other factors that fluctuate weight.
Preventing serious health concern
Genetics may do more than answer how a person becomes overweight, it may also determine why they become so ill.
One study helps identify patients who may develop liver disease due to obesity.
Still explained that a genetic marker known as NASH, the acronymn for Non-Alcoholic Stato Heptatits, is one example. This is a cirrhosis of the liver in a patient who is not an alcoholic and does not have Hepatitis C. A fatty liver causes the disease that is the fourth cause for liver transplantation.
The hope is to tackle the problem in a way that doesn’t include weeks of preoperative treatment, extensive surgery and more time for recovery.
“Our goal is to come up with less invasive treatment than surgery. This is how we work both sides of the clinical and research,” Still said. Research in many trials is still in the early stages, and it is too soon to make any determinations on how surgery can be avoided. All research must go through the hospital’s Internal Review Board to be conclusive, Still added.
More information on the topics of research or to be included in a study such as gene testing visit www.geisinger.org/ctrials or call 271-5251.