Obesity gene

Scientists have taken a big step in understanding how a gene linked to obesity works. The discovery will lead to a better understanding of why some people tend to put on weight more easily than others and may offer the potential to develop drugs that could help.

The FTO gene, found in April by a team of British geneticists, is known to influence whether a person becomes obese - but until now no one knew what the gene actually did in the body and, therefore, how it caused obesity.

In the latest study, which looked at FTO in mice, researchers found the gene was involved in repairing DNA and switching the activity of other genes on and off. "We know that FTO is expressed in many tissues in the body, and is found in regions of the brain associated with regulation of appetite," said Frances Ashcroft, a physiologist at Oxford University, England.

Migraine misery

Migraines may do more than cause head-splitting pain, according to a recent study. People who experience severe headaches have differences in the part of the brain that deals with sensations, scientists have found.

Neurologists who took brain images of 24 people who suffered frequent migraines and 12 who did not found that part of the brain called the somatosensory cortex - which processes information such as touch and pain - was 21 per cent thicker in those who had a history of migraines.

This may explain why people who get migraines may also suffer from other painful conditions. "Repeated migraine attacks may lead to, or be the result of, these structural changes in the brain," said Dr Nouchine Hadjikhani at the Massachusetts general hospital in Boston.

That's a raw deal

Shock news from the world of dietary research: raw-food fanatics may not be so deranged after all. Research has emerged showing a direct link between a chemical called acrylamide and womb and ovarian cancer in women. Acrylamide is produced when we roast, fry or bake our food.

If you are still reeling from last month's news that sausages cause cancer, then the idea that the future holds only raw beansprouts may seem a bit much. However, it appears that the more crispily we cook food - particularly starchy foods, such as potatoes - the more acrylamide is produced.

A study by researchers at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands found that women who consumed 40 micrograms of acrylamide a day (the same as in a 32g packet of potato crisps) had double the risk of cancer than women who ate the least.

The evidence is so persuasive that the EU is now advising people to avoid overcooking when baking, frying or toasting carbohydrate-rich foods. The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) suggests casting an aesthetic eye over your dinner plate: keep your chips to a gentle golden yellow, and your toast to the lightest shade acceptable.

Acrylamide, explains a FSA spokesman, is a chemical produced naturally when a wide variety of foods are cooked. Most breakfast cereals contain it. Cooked meat contains low levels, too. This latest study is not the first to show a link with cancer. However, the FSA admits that, "It is not possible to have a healthy balanced diet that avoids acrylamide."

The sensible point is that we should all cut down on chips, crisps, fast and processed foods, which contain the highest levels of acrylamide. In short, eat everything in moderation and increase your fruit and vegetable intake.