Genetics and Genomics of Obesity

It is commonly recognized that the prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing around the world and that the obese are becoming more severely obese. Current estimates suggest that there are more than one billion adults who are overweight or obese worldwide. Recognizing the threat associated with excess weight, the World Health Organization has identified overweight as one of the main risk factors for the overall burden of disease in the world and one of the top five in developed nations. There are four major classes of factors contributing to the ongoing epidemic of obesity, which is ultimately the result of widespread energy imbalance favoring storage of the energy surplus not expended. These four broad classes of factors can be labeled as follows: built environment, social environment, behavior, and biology. The book Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science, Volume 94 reviews the latest evidence for the contribution of genetic factors to the risk of obesity. It explores genes and pathways potentially involved and the behavior that they influence and the role of genetic variation in white and brown adipose tissue biology, excess adipose tissue mass, syndromic and nonsyndromic obesity cases, lipodystrophies the current understanding of the genetic basis of eating disorders, eating behavior, and physical activity level.