Polygenic score to predict obesity risk

Researchers at the Broad Institute have developed a polygenic test that could be given to infants to predict their lifelong risk for developing obesity.  According to this piece: “To develop the polygenic score, the researchers compiled data from the 2015 BMI Genome-wide Association Study on obesity. Using new computational algorithms, they distilled the information into a single number—or score—for each individual. The scoring algorithm was validated based on data from 119,951 individuals in the UK Biobank, and then used to explore obesity in additional groups totaling more than 300,000 individuals from the UK Biobank, Framingham Offspring and Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, noted the Broad Institute news release.”  Many factors figure in obesity besides genetics, but nothing else is a better long term predictor.  MORE

Image Credit: Broad Institute