Scientists at Montreal's McGill University say they have discovered a gene that seems to control the way in which the body burns up food. They are convinced that drugs can be developed to switch this gene off, thus enabling us to gobble up our food with no fear of the weighty consequences.
With the gene made inactive, it would make little difference to the body, whether it was taking in cottage cheese or chocolate chip cookies -- and tasteless skimmed milk could go down the drain in favor of the full-cream stuff. More importantly, researchers say, a drug to control this gene could offer hope to millions of sufferers of diabetes.
The McGill researchers say they have already developed a strain of mice that are genetically engineered not to produce the gene that is linked to body metabolism. But there does appear to be one possible risk -- that without the gene, people could show signs of premature aging.
