Mexican Cavefish Appear To Share Specific Genetic Mutation With Some Obese People Who Are Constantly Hungry.

reports that Mexican cavefish, “a species of fat, binge-eating fish, share” the MC4R “gene mutation with some obese people who are constantly hungry,” according to a study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study’s “finding could improve understanding about the link between obesity and health, the researchers said.” http://consumer.healthday.com/vitamins-and-nutrition-information-27/eating-and-appetite-disorder-news-223/fat-fish-offers-insights-into-human-obesity-701240.html We all know that people have different metabolisms that lead to their gaining weight under different amounts of eating," senior study author Clifford Tabin, chairman of the department of genetics at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a university news release. "The work with the cavefish gives us an example in a natural setting of why and how metabolisms evolved to be different. Some of the mechanisms we see in the fish may well have implications for human metabolism and therefore human health," he explained. Cavefish, which are blind, go months without eating by storing huge amounts of fat and burning it more slowly than other fish. While the cavefish are much fatter than other fish, they are healthy.