NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research may help narrow the search for genes linked to obesity and diabetes, according to a report.

Diet and lifestyle undoubtedly are major reasons why waistlines are rapidly expanding in the US and other developed nations, but genetics are believed to have at least some influence over whether a person becomes obese. Tracking down the culprit genes has not been easy, however.

Prior research has identified a region on chromosome 3 as possibly being linked to obesity. But this apparent connection was found in a study of white families, so it has been uncertain whether the same region would be related to obesity in other races.

Now, a team of researchers led by Dr. Xiaofeng Zhu, of Loyola University Medical School in Maywood, Illinois, reports that they have uncovered signs of a potential link between genes in the same area of chromosome 3 and an increased risk of obesity in a study of African-American families.

Past research has tentatively identified genes in this part of chromosome 3 that affect how the body burns calories, as well as a person's sensitivity to the blood sugar-regulating hormone insulin and the risk of type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes arises when the body can no longer properly use insulin, and the condition is closely linked to obesity.

"We can say that this adds to the evidence that variants in some genes in the area of chromosome 3 are potentially linked to (the) risk of diabetes," Dr. Richard S. Cooper, a co-author of the report, told Reuters Health.

But Cooper cautioned that the research does not prove that mutations in these genes cause obesity or diabetes.

The research does demonstrate, however, the importance of a type of genetic analysis called linkage analysis, he said. This approach has worked "spectacularly" in disorders linked to single gene defects, according to Cooper. The findings suggest, he said, that the approach is beginning to work for "complex" disorders--such as diabetes and obesity--that are caused by a variety of factors.

SOURCE: Diabetes 2002;51:541-544.

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