Remember the guy from Super Size Me who ate about 23,000 Bic Macs and never got fat? Ever wonder how he did it? Turns out he may have been born without the “fat enzyme.”
The enzyme MGAT2 is found in the intestines and determines the fate of our food by regulating how it is metabolized: It either makes fat go straight to your waistline, or converts it into energy. Scientists in California have discovered that when mice are missing the gene for MGAT2, they can eat whatever they want and never have to worry about getting fat.
The University of California at San Francisco knocked out the gene in experimental mice to see how their bodies grew after feeding them different diets. When the normal and experimental mice were fed a diet low in fat, both sets of mice grew the same way. But when the mice were eating a 60 percent fat diet (i.e., a typical American diet), the experimental mice weighed 40 percent less and had 50 percent less fat than the normal mice.
Not only does decreasing MGAT activity in mice reduce their chances of packing on the pounds, it also prevents them from developing other obesity-related problems such as fatty livers and glucose intolerance. While the researchers are unsure of precisely how the experimental mice kept the weight off, they think that when the mice are missing the MGAT2 enzyme, their body ultimately doesn’t store or use the fat.
Still, don’t go on a Big Mac binge just yet: Until scientist can figure out how to manipulate this gene to create the magic skinny pill, we will continue to metabolize food like we did when we were hunters and gathers.
Related Content:
DISCOVER: 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Fat
DISCOVER: Killer Fat
DISCOVER: Fat Is Not The Enemy
Image: flickr/ livinlowcarbman
March 17th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Better to just eat real food instead of processed crap.
March 18th, 2009 at 4:00 am
[...] Why Do Some People Never Get Fat? Scientists May Have the Answer [...]
March 18th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
How about a gene to gain wait now? seriously, weighing the same as i did when I was in grade 10 in high school is not cool.
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:16 pm
The guy from Supersize me DID get fat. He almost died. You are all stupid fucks. FAIL.
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Not >THE< guy who did Supersize Me, one of the people interviewed in the film, Don Gorske, is who ate 23,000 burgers over the years and hasn’t gotten fat.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Well yeah the guy who ate the 23,000 did it over more than 30 years! That comes out to about 2 a day; and some burgers are bigger than others, so 2 a day can be less than the daily allotment of 5 oz a day.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I’m one of those people who can eat lots and cannot store fat. It is rather strange. I’ve only gained 20 lbs within the last 25 years, despite having kids. I would love to be able to pass that ability on to my friends who struggle with weight problems despite being healthy eaters. I hope this leads to better methods of weight management!
I’m 44 years old, and weight 100lbs at 19. I don’t care what the popular definition of attractive is, skinny is gross and I always wanted curves…
March 25th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Hey…LOOK Here!! I Have The Answer To Everyones weight problem. I’m serious. You know that skinny & overweight people have something in common? Well, all humans have bacteria in their stomach & intestines which basically function to digest their food. & fatty, high caloric food the baxteria like best. Now, i have never had a serious weight problem, but like all teens & young adults, I tended to be a little bit paraniod about my weight. Anyway, after yrs of flirting with Anorexia & then bulimia, i came upon the bacteria which literally changed my life for the better. I have tried various bacteria pills over the yrs, & recomend a Probiotic pills to my readers. This means the bacteria are protected from the stomaxh acids. Also, i take the low number of bacteria, say 3.4 to 5 billion per pill. This’s mozt cost effective stategy. And i did take 6 to 10 pills a day. But i have recently dropped to two a day. And my weight no longer concerns me. I eat whatever I want, when ever. But strangely, I have noticed that now that I can eat all I want, I no longer want the bad foods. Micky (Mic308@aol.com)
March 26th, 2009 at 6:24 am
In ma side think fat depends on the nature of the family you come from.All of ma family member are thin and I believe never become fat
March 26th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Something changes over time. Up until I was about age 30, I WAS that guy who could eat whatever I wanted, as much as I wanted, and never gained any weight. I struggled to try to gain any weight. In high school I was 6′4″ and 155 pounds. Then, shortly after my kids were born, I started gaining weight slowly. I ate less and exercised more, but nothing seemed to stop gaining 2 to 3 pounds a year over the next 20 years. It’s a family pattern I see with my siblings, mother, and other relatives. We end up old people with skinny bodies and fat bellies and diabetes.
It’s probably too late for those of us alive today. Some things just don’t show up in a lab test. After you have something affecting millions of people for 40 or 50 years, then maybe it becomes apparent that there is a long term cumulative effect from something in the food, or water, or air, or pills, etc. Some research statistics suggest that obesity is spreading like a contagious disease. Well, maybe it is, and we just haven’t identified the cause yet.
March 26th, 2009 at 10:17 am
I love the contrast in the headlines to which this article has links. Both “Killer Fat” and “Fat is not the enemy” appear together.
Science marches onward. Good science corrects its mistakes eventually. For example, people had been told forever that stomach ulcers were caused by stress and spicy foods and told to take antacids and eat bland diets. Then one day, scientists finally discovered the REAL answer. The problem was heliobacter pylori and you could cure ulcers by killing the germ that lived where no one previously thought a germ could survive.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I never get weight put on
I see as a curse more than a good thing D: I eat and eat but I never get bigger
May 1st, 2009 at 2:14 am
well now i no why some people dont gain wait but i am one of them people and i am a footballer and am far far too skinny so if i one of these people that cant gain fat wat am i ment to do because getting bowled over by the bigger players everyweek aint much fun plz help p.s i eat a truck load each day but it wnt do nothing
May 23rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Alright, here’s a thought. How many of these people who can’t gain weight have parasites? I’ll bet there’s a large number of them who actually have intestinal parasites and/or worms that “help” keep them thin. I saw an autopsy a number of years ago of a young man who was thin, muscular, and had a 6-foot tape worm in his gut. I’ll bet he was one of those guys who could eat anything and never gain a pound.
In the same way I agree with the idea that bacteria in the digestive track is closely related to the ability to control weight. I’d bet that the processed junk that comes from fast “food” restaurants kills off bacteria by the billions and the lack of more natural unprocessed foods fails to reintroduce beneficial bacteria. Similarly, heavy use of antibiotics (especially among children) has a similar effect in killing beneficial bacteria.
Could it be that in looking for the answer to weight loss we are so focused on humans as isolated organisms that we’re missing the possibility that other organisms may be even more important than genes?
May 28th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Hmm, that would make sense for me. Either that or I have a tape worm, which is what the majority of my friends think.
May 29th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I bet thats what is with me. I eat alot (I would say at least) and I dont gain anything.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:40 am
This makes sense. When I was 14, I hit my full height 5′4″ and my permanent weight 120 lbs. I’m almost 47, and am exactly the same size.. (Pregnancies were an exception.) Doesn’t matter if I’m sedentary or in a routine where I run 3 miles every other day. Doesn’t matter whether I’m eating salads or Mac & Cheese. My body can’t see the scale, but somehow it sets itself to 120 lbs and that was that.
July 13th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
[...] Save You Discoblog: Small Comfort: Cockroaches, Too, Get Fat on an Unbalanced Diet Discoblog: Why Do Some People Never Get Fat? Scientists May Have the Answer 80Beats: Risk Factors for Severe Swine Flu Include Lung Ailments, Pregnancy, and [...]
August 11th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Wow… could the person in post number 4 sound anymore immature? I mean seriously… is it possible? I’m thinking the answer is “no.”
You could always go for a Vegetarian or Vegan lifestyle. Its hard to switch, but it seems the payoff is worth it.
Read a book that recently scared me to go Vegan called “Skinny B****” for the ladies, or “Skinny Bast***” for the guys… seriously, the books do exist.
Check out your local bookstore, it is worth the read.
August 11th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
It really is a great life.
August 11th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I would wait for this pill MGAT and I would definitely try one. For now, I’ll stick to proven methods, mindset, diet, exercise.
August 11th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
[...] Do Some People Never Get Fat? Scientists May Have The Answer. Why Do Some People Never Get Fat? Scientists May Have the Answer | Discoblog | Discover Magazine [...]
August 11th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Does the gene have any other purpose? If we take it out, there maybe some other problem that we didn’t expect.
August 11th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Girl eats too much sweet take up two seats.
August 11th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
damn…gotta get those burgers in me noww
rosinath.siveswaran@ryerson.ca
August 11th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
So how in the world do you get fatter? I’m 19 years old guy and only weights 120lbs. Eating does not work for me
August 11th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
There was some documentary about FAT VIRUS like it’s like a disease that spreads. It was on National Geographic.
They were saying that it was an epidemic.
August 12th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Advancement like this is what science is all about! interesting how genetics build us into what we are.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
but processed crap tastes oh so good
August 12th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
It seems to be that many readers misunderstood the article. MGAT2 *CAUSES* weight gain, not removes it. Any therapy will either counteract MGAT or be forced somehow to remove it from the body – a harrowing and probably impossible feat. So don’t “wait for this pill MGAT”, because there isn’t going to be any.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
[...] Discover var infolink_pid = [...]
August 14th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
[...] don’t diet, they have never seen the inside of a gym, and they are constantly eating fast food. According to scientists, those guys may have been born without the “fat [...]
August 16th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
It’s quite normal for teens not to gain weight even though they eat burgers and candy and all that. The reason is that it takes energy to grow. Young people just use a whole lot more energy whilst they’re bodies are growing and thus don’t gain weight that easily. I know loads of women who were thin when they were teenagers but suddenly gained during their 20s. It happens to most people. I ate junk food all the time in my teens, candy, sugary stuff, snacking all the time and never gained weight even though I wasn’t stick think, I was still normal weight despite all that junk. If I was to eat that way NOW when I’m in my late 20s, I would literally bloat like a balloon. I’ve managed to stay the same size all these years but today I have to watch what I eat.
Also it’s quite deceiving to think that if you see a skinny person eating a hamburger that they must be one of those lucky ones who never gain weight. WRONG. It could just be that the skinny person eats very lightly when you’re not there to watch. Whenever I go out with my mates and we go to a restaurant, I always order something delicious (& fattening) plus always a desert. My mates go “Oooh, how can you like that and still be so skinny!? It’s so unfair!!”. No, it’s not unfair. I exercise regularly, I don’t snack, I don’t even eat breakfast, I don’t consume large amounts of alcohol, etc. That’s my secret to being skinny and still being to allow myself an odd treat every now & then. If it’s a special night out at nice restaurant I sure as hell not going to order salad, when I can eat salad like every normal day and then treat myself at these kinds of special occasions.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Interesting, but regardless of what genes or enzymes we have, we have something those mice don’t: the ability to CHOOSE what we eat and how much we exercise, and thus, the ability to change our weight… even if it takes more effort for some of us than others.
August 21st, 2009 at 9:12 am
Cool! anted to download it by means of http://filesmixx.com/ – one of rapidshare search engines, but failed to find. Is it available at some other resource???
August 21st, 2009 at 10:17 am
You wont believe me, I am down 6 pant sizes and 38 pounds in 11 weeks! Read books about a diet plan to manage healthy weight loss ! Take the plunge and feel the difference.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:57 pm
[...] this enzyme, the body might just dump the fat; it may not use it at all. The article can be found here. There isn’t a whole lot of information just yet, but based on initial tests on mice, the [...]
August 23rd, 2009 at 1:01 pm
dump the fat? (may cause anal leakage)
August 31st, 2009 at 4:13 pm
im 5 feet 2 and weight 80 pounds
and i eat a lot
September 1st, 2009 at 4:55 pm
am 25 years oldbut i look 15 because am so small.i eat like a machine but never grow.am ready to do anything just to get fat and bigger.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I’ll tell you why I don’t get fat, I don’t overeat & I don’t use food for emotional reasons. I don’t deprive myself either, I eat icecream everyday, just not the whole carton.
September 30th, 2009 at 10:59 am
[...] do some people never get fat, while most of Americans do? Sure, one can blame eating too much popcorn and junk food and not [...]
October 8th, 2009 at 9:58 am
I don’t really know why, my whole family is full of thin women. My mother, my sister, and I can’t digest large amounts of fat. My dad was convinced that I was lactose intolerant, like him, but I could still drink fat free milk, Breyer’s Ice Cream in reasonable amounts, I could still have small quantities of dairy products.
In middle school, I would eat McDonalds twice a week and I would get so sick. I would get sick when I would overindulge on ice cream or drink milk with a higher fat content. I would get sick from eating fried foods or cheesy foods like pizza or lasagna. At one point it was normal for my mother, my sister, or me to take up the bathroom for long periods of time. We tried using Tums or Zantac 75, but after a while I couldn’t deal with the stomach issues anymore. It was getting in the way of my life and I was so skinny. I would get frequently questioned by teachers, doctors, and peers if I had an eating disorder. I went into ninth grade with a weight of 85 pounds and I was about 5′ 3.”
I’ve stopped any kind of medication and I now monitor how much fat I eat (which is not much). I drink weight gain drinks with Carnation Instant breakfast and fat free milk, I eat tuna, pastas, whole grain breads, all natural juices to get vitamins, red meats for protein with little fat, poultry, cereals, and tons of other things. I’ve been trying to gain weight and it is a very slow process. If I miss breakfast, I’ll lose 2 – 3 pounds. If I don’t eat enough within a ten hour period, I’ll get super shaky and dizzy. I’m 19 years old and I weigh 111.5 pounds and I’m 5′ 8″.
My sister and my mother have not learned. My sister sticks to a cheap college diet and ends up being sick for weeks at a time. My mother still continues to eat bad (and drinking coffee makes it worse), she eats the cheap butter with canola oil substitute (which is a very unhealthy cheap oil) and she has only gained weight from the medications she’s on and even then she’s only gained weight around her middle and not very much at that. I’ve figured out that my body burns calories fast and drinking coffee or soda just makes it worse. Eating processed food also gives me stomach aches as well and eating anything with canola oil in it or putting anything with canola oil on my skin makes me break out in hives. Perhaps my family has a sensitivity to unhealthy things? My doctor doesn’t think I have a hyperthyroid condition because I may not be able to gain lots of weight, but I don’t lose it too fast and my hair isn’t falling out.
I just feel perfectly normal besides being super skinny. I’m not unhealthy skinny, so you can’t see ribs protruding or anything, but I just want to look normal. I was actually searching the internet for recipes that could help me gain weight and eat healthy and get all my vitamins, but it turns out not a lot of people want to gain weight and all they really say is eat a lot of calories and pray.
P.S. I’m pretty sure I don’t have a parasite either, because they generally take all the nutrition from your food and you end up actually looking unhealthy. And I’m pretty sure I’m getting all the nutrition from my food and I don’t have any dark circles under my eyes, I just can’t digest a lot of fats. : )
-Skinny Girl
October 24th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
i have always been skinny its really annoying when people just asume you as anorexic or belimic when i have 4 meals a day and some snacks. i wont gain weight and i wish i would because some girls think being fat is bad but being super skinny is as bad. i need a sollution to this.somebody help!
November 9th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
ok i just found the problem with my brother at first i thought he had a tape worm but he has this very unfair gene……..ugh! i try and try but i never lose weight gosh blah! i have this major obssesion with my brother how im not skinny and they are. all they do is eat and eat and have no excersie and also sleep like theres no tommorow. ive been going to the gym since i was 12 and now im 14, tall, over weight, and jealous how im not perfect. but theres a brighter side, im starting softball tommorow so i guess im starting a ” knew me”.?! WHAT A WAY TO SHUVE IT IN MY FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!>_<
December 8th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Boo Hoo Hoo. I’m sick of all you fairy’s on here complaining about “not being able to gain weight”. How about you think about the other side of the coin, people who gain weight very easy and are therefore more prone to obesity related diseases. Suck it up people, if you want to get big hit the weights or shutup.
December 19th, 2009 at 5:00 am
I eat pretty normally (not too much but not too little) and weigh 120 pounds. It’s what you put into your body. Eat healthily… what am I missing about everyone’s weight struggle?
February 8th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Try the following blog for some answers.
http://diet4nonfat.wordpress.com/
Still fresh but looks like promising. Worth checking.