Obese children taken off at-risk register after genes found to be at fault

December 6, 2009 by srrpenna

Two children considered to be at risk of abuse because they are severely obese have been removed from the protection register after scientists discovered that they carry a newly identified genetic abnormality that explains their weight.

Evidence from a ground-breaking study has convinced social workers that the children’s obesity was not caused by parental neglect or deliberate overfeeding but by a missing segment of DNA. The cases of another two children on the at-risk register have also been placed under review, after research showed them to have the same genetic deletion.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6946615.ece

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