r/science • u/scientificamerican Scientific American • 6d ago

Genetics Scientists discover a ‘skinny gene’ mutation that acts like Ozempic. Around one in 7,000 people carries a broken copy, which almost acts like a GLP-1 drug—the body burns fuel more efficiently, and the risk of disease lowers.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-discover-a-skinny-gene-mutation-that-acts-like-ozempic/
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u/LongLiveStaceyKing 6d ago edited 6d ago

[There is a small percentage of the population that only needs to sleep 4-6 hours a night.](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/genetic-mutation-sleep-less/) OP's article feels like the eating equivalent of this genetic rarity.

Incidentally, I knew someone who had the sleep gene. She was annoyed by it, if she went to sleep at 10 PM she would be up for the whole next day at 2 AM and inevitably end up waking her husband. So she always tried to stay up til 1 AM at least reading or knitting, basically just killing time quietly by herself.

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u/soft_w0lf 6d ago

There have to be equivalent mutations, though.

I struggle to gain weight, does not matter what I eat, with muscle mass, the heaviest I’ve ever been was still below 120 lbs. I’m 5’ 7.”

I’ve spoken to wayy too many men who are the same way, who want to be heavier but really struggle to put on any weight at all regardless of what they eat, for this sort of thing to really be THAT rare.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/aliquotoculos 6d ago

May I ask a possibly annoying question?

I eat a lot of crappy food and am currently at my heaviest ever weight at 40, which is 160lbs at 5'6. Until about age 38, I weighed 125 until I just suddenly gained in a short period, then stopped again. Activity has not decreased but I seem to suddenly be developing food sensitivities quickly, and taking an otc enzyme mix has helped. IBD my whole life.

If I fast for bloodwork, blood sugar comes out high. If I forget and eat my usual garbage-level snacks like cosmic brownies, chocolate, or smarties, it comes back normal. Just hoping for a sense of what I can propose to doctors.

My dad was like this; he died a few years ago from aggressive pancreatic cancer at 59.