Genetics of Obesity

Abstract

Obesity is among the major health problems in developed countries, which also influences life and work quality and brings a serious economical burden as a social issue. In the recent years, obesity has become widespread throughout the world and is a multifactorial disease which is influenced by enviromental and genetic factors. In association with fat tissue increase in obesity serious endocrinological and metabolic dysfunctions are present. These dysfunctions arising together with obesity lead to obesity related disorders such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and coronary heart disease. According to the World Health Organization, the estimated number is a thousand million for adults who are overweight (body mass index >25 kg/m(2)) and 300 million of those are considered clinically obese (body mass index >30 kg/m(2)). According to the human obesity gene map, 11 genes are found to be responsible for monogenic obesity. In multigenic obesity 22 candidate genes have been detected with logistic regression analysis. Today, verification studies (linkage studies/association studies) are being performed to detect estimated genes to be responsible/candidate for obesity. Although technological progress has been achieved over the last 20 years, the genetic background and environmental interactions for fat tissue function regulation and perturbed biochemical pathways are still under investigation.