article_snippet: In other words, it influences whether someone is an ‘apple’, with a big tummy, or a ‘pear’, who widens out below the waist.
article_snippet: Apple-shaped: Scientists have discovered that a gene called Plexin D1 influences whether a person is an 'apple', with a big belly, or a 'pear' with fat on their hips and thighs .
article_snippet: The discovery of the ‘apple-shape’ gene is important because being an ‘apple’ who stores fat around the middle is worse for health than being a ‘pear’.
article_snippet: Instead, the fat was stored in more a pear-shaped pattern, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.
article_snippet: The fish without apple-shape gene were also better at processing sugar – something that should cut the odds of diabetes.
highlights_snippet: Plexin D1 gene influences whether a person is 'apple' or 'pear' shaped .
  