Obesity: genome and environment interactions

Abstract

Obesity has become one of the major threats for public health in industrialised world among adults, but also among adolescents and children. It is infl uenced by the interaction of genes, nutrition, environment, and lifestyle. Environmental and lifestyle risk factors include foetal and lifelong environment, nutrient quality, chemical and microbial exposure, and psychical stress, all of which are important contributing infl uences. Removing or limiting chemical and pharmaceutical obesogens from human environment could make a difference in the growing epidemic of obesity. Additionally, nutrigenomics describes how modifi cations in individual diets can improve health and prevent chronic diseases, as well as obesity, by understanding the effects of a genetic profi le in the interaction between food and increase in body weight. Furthermore, individual genetic variations in genome represent an individual′s predisposition for obesity. Therefore, the use of individual genetic information, avoiding obesogens, and a healthy lifestyle could help to improve the management of obesity and maintain a healthy weight.