(Image: Ray Roberts/Rex Features)

FOR the first time, a gene is being linked to increased susceptibility to the placebo effect, the mysterious capacity some people have to benefit from sham treatments.

The gene might not play a role in our response to treatment for all conditions, and the experiment involved only a small number of people. Nonetheless, the discovery is a milestone in the quest to understand this phenomenon, which often blurs the results of clinical trials “To our knowledge, it’s the first time anyone has linked a gene to the placebo effect,” says Tomas Furmark of Uppsala University …