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American Morning

Hungry Gene Causes Obesity?

Aired November 29, 2002 - 07:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The latest figures about the figures of Americans are not pretty -- 31 percent of the country's adults and 15 percent of the kids are obese. Yes, we have to do this story, even though it's the day after Thanksgiving. Those figures, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Many researchers think a gene causes overeating, and they're trying to find it. The obesity problem is the subject to of a new book called "The Hungry Gene." Its author, Ellen Ruppel Shell, joins us now live from Boston.

Good morning.

ELLEN RUPPEL SHELL, "THE HUNGRY GENE": Good morning.

COSTELLO: I was reading the description of your book, and it calls obesity "a baffling plague and a horrifying outbreak." It almost sounds like you consider obesity a disease.

SHELL: Well, you know, in America, we have developed a culture of obesity, which we have, in fact, exported it around the globe. So, in a sense, it is a pandemic. It is a sort of a disease.

COSTELLO: Is there really a hungry gene?

SHELL: Well, actually, in the mid-1990s, scientists did discover first in mice and then in humans a gene that was very powerful in the regulation of appetite. And since that time, they have discovered about 200 genes that are involved in appetite regulation. So, yes, we certainly do know that eating is, to a certain degree, genetically directed.

COSTELLO: OK, so, the gene, combined with our lifestyle, has caused people to lose their ability to regulate their appetite. How so?

SHELL: That's absolutely right. What scientists have found just in the last few years is that some of us are more than others having difficulty regulating our appetite when encountering a certain environment. And the environment that we've created in the United States is, for more and more of us, toxic when it comes to weight regulation.

COSTELLO: Toxic. What do you mean by that, toxic?

SHELL: Well, we are inundated with very large amounts of certain kinds of foods, mostly high-fat foods and foods that have a high concentration of sweeteners that subvert our natural appetite regulating mechanisms in the brain. And that is why more and more of us are having so much difficulty controlling our appetite.

COSTELLO: Well, there's something that I'm curious about. If we do have this hungry gene and it is affecting Americans, why is it affecting Americans so much more so than it's affecting people in other countries? Because aren't Americans the fattest people in the world?

SHELL: Well, actually, Americans are not the fattest people in the world, and I have been to some places around the globe where this genetic effect has been even more powerful. It is a gene-environment combination. Genes do not act in isolation. They act in combination with the environment.

And as I said earlier, the environment that we have in the United States is toxic to more and more of us, not all of us -- 70 percent of Americans still are not obese. But for a good number of us, this is a very dangerous combination.

COSTELLO: OK, you have me curious. So, what is the fattest country in the world?

SHELL: Well, I was on an island -- in the book -- in traveling for the book, I went to an island on Micronesia, where 85 percent of the islanders had become obese in just one generation. Their genes were very...

COSTELLO: You're kidding!

SHELL: No, their genes had made them very, very prone to obesity, and with the introduction of the Western-style lifestyle, they had become obese and overweight almost overnight.

COSTELLO: OK, so, what's the answer to this? If you have this hungry gene, how can you control it? Is there a drug that's coming out or that's being tested that we can take eventually, which would be great?

SHELL: You know, obesity if what people in the drug industry call the trillion dollar disease. It would probably be the most profitable disease to design a drug against. However, more and more of us are succumbing. With 30 percent of Americans obese, a drug is probably not going to be the answer for most of us, although some of us. So, we have to go at this from the environmental end.

COSTELLO: The environment, and then you say that maybe getting your stomach stapled or having some kind of gastric-bypass surgery is a good idea.

SHELL: Well, for those who are morbidly obese -- that is their health is held hostage to their weight -- that right now is the best solution. However, it's not one that would be a hopeful solution for most of us for sure.

COSTELLO: All right, Ellen Ruppel Shell, the book is called "The Hungry Gene," thanks for joining us this morning.

SHELL: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired November 29, 2002 - 07:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The latest figures about the figures of Americans are not pretty -- 31 percent of the country's adults and 15 percent of the kids are obese. Yes, we have to do this story, even though it's the day after Thanksgiving. Those figures, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Many researchers think a gene causes overeating, and they're trying to find it. The obesity problem is the subject to of a new book called "The Hungry Gene." Its author, Ellen Ruppel Shell, joins us now live from Boston.

Good morning.

ELLEN RUPPEL SHELL, "THE HUNGRY GENE": Good morning.

COSTELLO: I was reading the description of your book, and it calls obesity "a baffling plague and a horrifying outbreak." It almost sounds like you consider obesity a disease.

SHELL: Well, you know, in America, we have developed a culture of obesity, which we have, in fact, exported it around the globe. So, in a sense, it is a pandemic. It is a sort of a disease.

COSTELLO: Is there really a hungry gene?

SHELL: Well, actually, in the mid-1990s, scientists did discover first in mice and then in humans a gene that was very powerful in the regulation of appetite. And since that time, they have discovered about 200 genes that are involved in appetite regulation. So, yes, we certainly do know that eating is, to a certain degree, genetically directed.

COSTELLO: OK, so, the gene, combined with our lifestyle, has caused people to lose their ability to regulate their appetite. How so?

SHELL: That's absolutely right. What scientists have found just in the last few years is that some of us are more than others having difficulty regulating our appetite when encountering a certain environment. And the environment that we've created in the United States is, for more and more of us, toxic when it comes to weight regulation.

COSTELLO: Toxic. What do you mean by that, toxic?

SHELL: Well, we are inundated with very large amounts of certain kinds of foods, mostly high-fat foods and foods that have a high concentration of sweeteners that subvert our natural appetite regulating mechanisms in the brain. And that is why more and more of us are having so much difficulty controlling our appetite.

COSTELLO: Well, there's something that I'm curious about. If we do have this hungry gene and it is affecting Americans, why is it affecting Americans so much more so than it's affecting people in other countries? Because aren't Americans the fattest people in the world?

SHELL: Well, actually, Americans are not the fattest people in the world, and I have been to some places around the globe where this genetic effect has been even more powerful. It is a gene-environment combination. Genes do not act in isolation. They act in combination with the environment.

And as I said earlier, the environment that we have in the United States is toxic to more and more of us, not all of us -- 70 percent of Americans still are not obese. But for a good number of us, this is a very dangerous combination.

COSTELLO: OK, you have me curious. So, what is the fattest country in the world?

SHELL: Well, I was on an island -- in the book -- in traveling for the book, I went to an island on Micronesia, where 85 percent of the islanders had become obese in just one generation. Their genes were very...

COSTELLO: You're kidding!

SHELL: No, their genes had made them very, very prone to obesity, and with the introduction of the Western-style lifestyle, they had become obese and overweight almost overnight.

COSTELLO: OK, so, what's the answer to this? If you have this hungry gene, how can you control it? Is there a drug that's coming out or that's being tested that we can take eventually, which would be great?

SHELL: You know, obesity if what people in the drug industry call the trillion dollar disease. It would probably be the most profitable disease to design a drug against. However, more and more of us are succumbing. With 30 percent of Americans obese, a drug is probably not going to be the answer for most of us, although some of us. So, we have to go at this from the environmental end.

COSTELLO: The environment, and then you say that maybe getting your stomach stapled or having some kind of gastric-bypass surgery is a good idea.

SHELL: Well, for those who are morbidly obese -- that is their health is held hostage to their weight -- that right now is the best solution. However, it's not one that would be a hopeful solution for most of us for sure.

COSTELLO: All right, Ellen Ruppel Shell, the book is called "The Hungry Gene," thanks for joining us this morning.

SHELL: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.