Weight Gain on High-Carb Diets Linked to Liver Gene
December 6th, 2007 Posted by: Dr. Cox
(Ivanhoe Newswire) â We may now know a genetic reason for why foods loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and other processed carbohydrates are making us fatter.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison say a gene in the liver, called SCD-1 causes mice to gain weight on a carb-laden diet.
When scientists fed mice lacking SCD-1 a diet rich in starch and sugar the extra carbohydrates were broken down instead of converted into fat and stored, keeping the mice skinny. But control mice with normal gene activity got fat on the same food.
âIt looks like the SCD gene in the liver is responsible for causing weight gain in response to a high-carbohydrate diet, because when we take away the geneâs activity the animals no longer gain the weight, James Ntambi, University of Wisconsin-Madison, was quoted as saying. âThese findings are telling us that the liver is a key tissue in mediating weight gain induced by excess carbohydrates.â
Ntambi says blocking SCDâs action in the liver could help people lose weight, especially since obese people seem to have higher levels of the enzyme than thin people. He believes obese people in general may have higher SCD activity on both the liver and fat tissue so their bodies may convert more carbohydrates into fat.
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SOURCE: Cell Metabolism, 2007;