Obesity is associated with clear changes in gene-networks and the dysfunction of mitochondria, say researchers at the University of Helsinki and the National Public Health Institute - worse, the impacts of these cellular changes may aggravate and work to maintain the obese state in humans
Surprisingly, the genes most drastically affected by obesity were ones involved in the breakdown of a class of amino acids known as branched-chain amino acids. These changes in the obese twins were clearly associated with pre-diabetic changes in sugar metabolism and the action of the hormone insulin.
The researchers say that, while healthy eating habits and exercise are important, genes play some role in the development of obesity, so they studied rare cases of young (25 year old) identical twins with large differences in bodyweight and saw clear changes in the function of the cellular mitochondria.