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Binge eaters, blame your DNA. New research links teen binge-eating to a specific gene variation previously linked to obesity risk.

After analyzing data from 6,000 teens between the ages of 14 and 16, researchers from the University of Queensland and University College London Institute of Child Health found that a genetic variation in the FTO gene boosts the risk of binge-eating by a significant 20 percent to 30 percent.

Researcher Professor David Evans said the latest findings provide significant insights into binge-eating tendencies in young people.

"In the future it may also help us create strategies for identifying at-risk teenagers before they get to the stage where they are overweight or obese and face the many health problems associated with these issues," Evans said in a news release.

"About 10 per cent of adults and teenagers binge-eat, which we define as excessive over eating with a lack of control over what they are eating," he added.

"While it's known that a combination of genetic and environmental factors lead to eating disorders, until now there has been limited research into how specific genes increase the likelihood of binge-eating behaviors in adolescence that can lead to obesity."

Evans and his team also found that the findings were particularly pronounced in teenage girls, who were 30 percent more likely to develop binge-eating behaviors if they possessed the gene variation.

"It's still early days in the research but we're getting a better understanding of how these behaviors come about," Evans concluded. "It's very complex because the tendency to binge is a behavior influenced by many different genetic and environmental factors."

The findings were published in the journal Obesity.