Topics: genetics, obesity, women's health

WOMEN battling the bulge may be fighting more than just sweet temptation, according to new research showing a fat gene could be to blame.

Almost a third of women are believed to be affected by a mutated gene that leads to the development of fatty tissue, researchers at Maastricht University in Holland have discovered.

Women who have the gender-specific impaired DNA, called MMP2, are more than two-and-a-half times more likely to gain 15kg or more, the Daily Mail reported.

The researchers traced the weight gains and losses of more than 5000 men and women for 10 years, and analysed the participants' DNA for genes implicated in obesity.

Researcher Dr Freek Bouwman said while MMP2 was common in women who had gained weight, it wasn't in men, the Daily Mail reported.

However, if a woman had MMP2 it did not mean they were doomed to put on weight, said Waitemata specialist in endocrinology, diabetes and general medicine Dr Steven Miller.

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"The investigators also observed women with the MMP2 mutation who did not gain excess weight, and excess weight gain in women without the MMP2 mutation.

"There are also numerous other factors that influence body weight to a greater or lesser degree," he said.

Go here to read the rest:
Junk food gene could be making women fat

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