A rare genetic mutation may help explain why some people get hit with a triple whammy of high blood pressure, cholesterol and a tendency to gain weight easily, U.S. researchers reported on Friday. The mutation is seen in one gene found in mitochondrial DNA -- handed down virtually unchanged from mother to child. Mitochondrial DNA affects basic cell functions and while the mutation itself is rare, it may help explain so-called metabolic syndrome or syndrome X, in which people are prone to diabetes, heart disease and obesity. "This finding raises the possibility that all features of the metabolic syndrome may be attributable to altered mitochondrial function," said Dr. Richard Lifton, a geneticist at Connecticut's Yale medical school who led the study. This in turn could help explain why people are more prone to heart disease as they age -- because mitochondria work less efficiently as people get older, Lifton and colleagues wrote in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Lifton and colleagues studied 142 people in four generations of a family whose members frequently had high blood pressure, cholesterol and another, less well-known disorder in which their blood carried low levels of magnesium. --More 2208 Local Time 1908 GMT
