Attention, chocolate lovers: You may not be able to help yourselves. Swiss and British scientists have linked the widespread love of chocolate to a chemical "signature" that may be programmed into our metabolic systems.
Read more health news
Genes may be linked to mental stress
LA JOLLA, Calif., Oct 28, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Increasing the activity of two enzymes known for their role in oxidative stress metabolism made relaxed mice nervous, say U.S. researchers.
Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., say the enzymes significantly increased anxiety in usually relaxed mice and made already jittery mice even more anxiety-ridden.
"Currently, very little is known about the genes that predispose to psychiatric disease," says first author Iiris Hovatta, a postdoctoral researcher in Salk's Laboratory of Genetics. "All of the 17 genes that we identified are very good candidates for human anxiety disorders and most of them have never been associated with anxiety-related behavior before."
The findings, reported in the early online edition of Nature, may help shed light on the genetic links to psychiatric disease.
URL: www.upi.com