HAMILTON — Jolly old St. Nick is happy for a reason, and it may
be the same reason his red coat could double as a sail.
Scientists out of McMaster University have discovered a happy
gene — and it just so happens to be the same one that is a major
contributor to obesity. “So you can be obese, and happy,” said
David Meyre, an associate professor at McMaster’s department of
clinical epidemiology and biostatistics and a senior author of
the study released Tuesday in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
“This is the first time we know there is some biological reason,
or a pathology, behind something like mental health, especially
depression,” added first author Zena Samaan, an assistant
professor at McMaster’s department of psychiatry and behavioural
neurosciences. The scientists set out to find out which genes
leave people more susceptible to depression. What they found was
that a gene that predisposes some people to obesity, called FTO,
also offers some protection against depression. Meyre, who holds
the Canadian r