Gene-Environment Interactions and the Genetic Epidemiology of Obesity: Correlates for Preventative Medicine

Abstract

As obesity rates continue to rise in the United States, and throughout the world, the role of genetics is playing an increasingly prominent role in understanding the underlying causes of this disease. Numerous studies have been undertaken to understand the role of genetics in obesity, and to identify those candidate genes which are associated with such. This has resulted in studies showing various degrees of association between obesity-related morphological characteristics, including increased body mass index, hip circumference and height/weight ratios, and genetic variants, particularly in the FTO and PFKP genes. The true value of these studies is not in their causal explanations for obesity, but rather in the importance of understanding the role of the gene-environment interaction, and the way in which such can be used to develop integrated public health prevention programs for obesity which are based upon lifestyle risk factors for such.

Keywords: obesity, genetic epidemiology, public health, gene-environment interaction, prevention