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Obesity is accompanied by complications such as hypertension, non–insulin–dependent diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis, which in turn cause ischaemic heart disease, stroke and premature death^1–3. The underlying mechanisms behind imbalance in energy intake and energy expenditure that lead to obesity are still controversial. In most populations, obesity is more common among women than men and is a multifactorial phenotype, which may result from a complex network of genetic and nongenetic factors. The relative importance of genetic factors for obesity is under debate^4–7. Genome searches using polymorphic markers in inbred mice with phenotypes that result in extreme obesity^8,9 and studies of human candidate genes are being performed in an attempt to identify genes that contribute to obesity. There is evidence that body weight is physiologically regulated^4,10,11 and it has been postulated that …