Genes tied to obesity can shield you against diabetes

London: Certain genetic factors can impact our body in intriguingly paradoxical ways. A team of scientists has identified 14 new genetic variations that have been linked to higher body mass index (BMI) but have the potential to lower risk of diabetes, lower blood pressure and lower heart disease risk.

According to researchers, it is because of the location – around the middle of the round – where surplus fat is stored.

This location is more important than the amount when it comes to insulin resistance and risk of diabetes and other conditions.

"There are some genetic factors that increase obesity, but paradoxically reduce metabolic risk," said Brunel Alex Blakemore, Professor at Brunel University London.

The findings revealed that they are gaining weight, they are carrying the weight of the disease, and they are doing so well, and they have less fat in their major organs, such as pancreas and kidneys.

"Directly under the skin is better than around the body or especially, within the liver," Blakemore added.

For the study, published in the journal Diabetes, the team examined more than 500,000 people aged between 37 and 73.

They used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of these people's waists to match where they stored extra fat with evidence of type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke risk.

"There are many overweight or obese individuals who do not carry the expected metabolic disease risks associated with higher BMI," explained Hanieh Yaghootkar from the University of Exeter in Britain.

"Meanwhile, some lean or normal type-2 diabetes, type 2 diabetes," Yaghootkar noted.