Six new mutant genes have identified in connection with obesity, which alter nervous system control over eating and metabolic rate, researchers reported.

Joel Hirschhorn in collaboration with Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) analyzes 15 different studies conducted on entire human genetic map and isolates six new genetic variations.

“These findings are a big achievement in better comprehension of the way, human body regulates weight,” Dr. Alan Guttmacher, said in a statement.

“This study really doubles in one fell swoop the number of genetic factors contributing to obesity as a public health problem,” added Dr. Kari Stefansson.

The GIANT team found variations in six genes — TMEM18, KCTD15, GNPDA2, SH2B1, MTCH2 and NEGR1. These genes were strongly related with the body mass index (BMI).

“Most important aspect of these discoveries is, new risk factors are near genes that regulate processes in the brain,” added Stefansson.

“These information’s provide us the better means of combating obesity, including new drugs, we need to concentrate on the eating habit at least as much as on the metabolic rates of how the body uses and reserve energy,” Stefansson said.

Approximately one third of U.S. adults are obese, with a BMI of 30 or higher and the number is growing higher and higher with the passage of each moment. Around 100,000 deaths each year in the U.S. alone are linked to obesity.

“We already know that factors, such as diet and metabolic rate, play a vital role in obesity, but these findings further provides evidence that genetic variation along with other factors also plays a significant role in an individual’s predisposition to obesity,” said the genome institute’s Dr. Eric Green.