Obesity and diabetes: from genetics to epigenetics

摘要: Obesity is becoming an epidemic health problem. During the last years not only genetic but also, and primarily, environmental factors have been supposed to contribute susceptibility weight gain or develop complications such as type 2 diabetes. In spite of intense efforts identify predisposing variants, progress has slow success limited, common obesity variants identified explains a small part individual variation in risk. Moreover, there evidence that current diabetes environment-driven. Recent studies indicate normal metabolic regulation during adulthood besides requiring good balance between energy intake expenditure, can be also affected by pre- post-natal environments. fact, maternal nutritional constraint pregnancy alter phenotype offspring means epigenetic specific genes, this passed next generations. Studies focused on marks found altered methylation and/or histone acetylation levels genes involved more general processes. researches point out continuous increase “obesogens”, environment food chains, above all endocrine disruptors, chemicals interfere with many homeostatic mechanisms. Taken into account already existing data effects obesogens, multiple potential targets which they might daily, it seems likely exposure obesogens important role diabesity pandemic.