“…BDNF binds to its tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB) receptor (Noble et al, 2011) and modulates energy metabolism, food regulation and BMI by central as well as peripheral action, and regulates physical activity, hyperactivity, anxiety, and hyperphagia (Lebrun et al, 2006;Noble et al, 2011;Rask-Andersen et al, 2010;Tapia-Arancibia et al, 2004). Likewise, mutations in the genes coding for BDNF and TrkB are responsible for obesity and eating disorders (Lebrun et al, 2006;Noble et al, 2011). Since lower serum or plasma BDNF levels are found in obesity (Araya et al, 2008;El-Gharbawy et al, 2006;Gray et al, 2006;Krabbe et al, 2007;Lommatzsch et al, 2005), compared to normal weight subjects, although opposite results also exist (Bus et al, 2011;Iughetti et al, 2011), our data suggest that carriers of one or two Met alleles in our study had decreased amount of the mature BDNF, possibly lower plasma BDNF levels, and therefore they had higher values of BMI and were more frequently obese.…”