Chonky Furry Best Buds: Dog Obesity Gene Shared by Humans

Obesity is on the rise not just in humans but in dogs, whose history of selective breeding makes them an ideal species for studying the balance between genetics, diet, and lifestyle in weight gain.

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In a new paper published in the journal Science, researchers identified a gene strongly linked to obesity in pet pooches and found it is also associated with weight gain in humans.

"The prevailing attitude towards obesity is that people are just a bit rubbish about controlling what they eat, whereas actually, our data shows that if you're a high-risk individual, it takes more effort to keep you slim," said lead author Eleanor Raffan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge's Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience.

A veterinarian as well as a scientist, Raffan has long sought to study animal genetics to uncover broader biological insights that apply across species, including our own. For this study, she and her colleagues focused on British Labrador Retrievers.

"Anyone who knows dogs will understand that starting with Labradors is a good idea because they're very prone to getting obese," she said.

"They've got this reputation for being really foodie dogs, really obsessed by food."

The team collected slobber samples from 241 dogs and conducted a genome-wide association study, which examines an organism's entire set of genes to identify areas linked to a specific trait.