Home LiteratureArticle Details
PMID: 19261728 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Childhood obesity: are genetic differences involved?

The American journal of clinical nutrition ·Vol. 89 ·No. 5 ·2009-05-00 ·Pages 1494S-1501S

Bouchard C

Abstract

This brief review focuses on the genetic contribution to childhood obesity. Evidence for a genetic component to excess body weight during growth is presented from the perspective of genetic epidemiology studies. Parental obesity is a predictor of childhood excess weight. The familial risk ratio for childhood obesity when a parent is obese reaches >2.5. Birth weight is characterized by a genetic heritability component on the order of 30%, with significant maternal and paternal effects in addition to the newborn genes. About 5% of childhood obesity cases are caused by a defect that impairs function in a gene, and >/=5 of these genes have been uncovered. However, the common forms of childhood obesity seem to result from a predisposition that primarily favors obesogenic behaviors in an obesogenic environment. Candidate gene and genomewide association studies reveal that these obesogenic genes have small effect sizes but that the risk alleles for obesity are quite common in populations. The latter may translate into a highly significant population-attributable risk of obesity. Gene-environment interaction studies suggest that the effects of predisposing genes can be enhanced or diminished by exposure to relevant behaviors. It is possible that the prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing across generations as a result of positive assortative mating with obese husbands and wives contributing more obese offspring than normal-weight parents.

MeSH Terms
Adult Bardet-Biedl Syndrome/genetics Birth Weight Body Weight/genetics Child Feeding Behavior Female Humans Male Obesity/epidemiology,genetics Parents Prader-Willi Syndrome/genetics Predictive Value of Tests Risk Factors Twins, Monozygotic
Authors & Affiliations
1 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Bouchard Claude
Human Genomics Laboratory, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. bouchac@pbrc.edu
References (71)
71 references, click to expand
  1. A quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 6q influences birth weight in two independent family studies.
    Hum Mol Genet. 2006 May 15;15(10):1569-79 PMID: 16611675
  2. A common variant in the FTO gene is associated with body mass index and predisposes to childhood and adult obesity.
    Science. 2007 May 11;316(5826):889-94 PMID: 17434869
  3. Common variants near MC4R are associated with fat mass, weight and risk of obesity.
    Nat Genet. 2008 Jun;40(6):768-75 PMID: 18454148
  4. Early determinants of development: a lipid perspective.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 May;89(5):1523S-1529S PMID: 19321568
  5. Genetic and non-genetic factors affecting birth-weight and adult Body Mass Index.
    Twin Res. 2001 Oct;4(5):365-70 PMID: 11869490
  6. 40-year follow-up of overweight children.
    Lancet. 1989 Aug 26;2(8661):491-3 PMID: 2570196
  7. Predicting obesity in young adulthood from childhood and parental obesity.
    N Engl J Med. 1997 Sep 25;337(13):869-73 PMID: 9302300
  8. Risch's lambda values for human obesity.
    Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1996 Nov;20(11):990-9 PMID: 8923155
  9. Banting lecture 2001: dysregulation of fatty acid metabolism in the etiology of type 2 diabetes.
    Diabetes. 2002 Jan;51(1):7-18 PMID: 11756317
  10. Variation in FTO contributes to childhood obesity and severe adult obesity.
    Nat Genet. 2007 Jun;39(6):724-6 PMID: 17496892
  11. Can infant feeding choices modulate later obesity risk?
    Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 May;89(5):1502S-1508S PMID: 19321574
  12. Early determinants of cardiovascular disease: the role of early diet in later blood pressure control.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 May;89(5):1518S-1522S PMID: 19297459
  13. Genome wide association (GWA) study for early onset extreme obesity supports the role of fat mass and obesity associated gene (FTO) variants.
    PLoS One. 2007 Dec 26;2(12):e1361 PMID: 18159244
  14. Genetic and environmental influences on infant weight and weight change: the Fels Longitudinal Study.
    Am J Hum Biol. 2007 Sep-Oct;19(5):692-702 PMID: 17639582
  15. Genetic and environmental variation in the birth weight of twins.
    Behav Genet. 1989 Jan;19(1):151-61 PMID: 2712811
  16. Intramyocellular lipids: anthropometric determinants and relationships with maximal aerobic capacity and insulin sensitivity.
    J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Apr;88(4):1785-91 PMID: 12679474
  17. Meta-analysis of genome-wide linkage studies in BMI and obesity.
    Obesity (Silver Spring). 2007 Sep;15(9):2263-75 PMID: 17890495
  18. Low physical activity accentuates the effect of the FTO rs9939609 polymorphism on body fat accumulation.
    Diabetes. 2008 Jan;57(1):95-101 PMID: 17942823
  19. Linkage strategies for genetically complex traits. I. Multilocus models.
    Am J Hum Genet. 1990 Feb;46(2):222-8 PMID: 2301392
  20. Intramuscular lipid content is increased in obesity and decreased by weight loss.
    Metabolism. 2000 Apr;49(4):467-72 PMID: 10778870
  21. Paternal contribution to birth weight.
    J Epidemiol Community Health. 2001 Dec;55(12):873-7 PMID: 11707480
  22. Genome-wide association scan shows genetic variants in the FTO gene are associated with obesity-related traits.
    PLoS Genet. 2007 Jul;3(7):e115 PMID: 17658951
  23. FTO gene SNPs associated with extreme obesity in cases, controls and extremely discordant sister pairs.
    BMC Med Genet. 2008 Jan 24;9:4 PMID: 18218107
  24. Genome-wide linkage analysis assessing parent-of-origin effects in the inheritance of birth weight.
    Hum Genet. 2002 May;110(5):503-9 PMID: 12073022
  25. Early risk determinants and later health outcomes: implications for research prioritization and the food supply. Introduction to the workshop.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 May;89(5):1485S-1487S PMID: 19261725
  26. The contribution of childhood obesity to adult carotid intima-media thickness: the Bogalusa Heart Study.
    Int J Obes (Lond). 2008 May;32(5):749-56 PMID: 18227845
  27. Early nutrition and later adiposity.
    J Nutr. 2001 Mar;131(3):874S-880S PMID: 11238778
  28. Familial risk ratios for extreme obesity: implications for mapping human obesity genes.
    Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1997 Oct;21(10):935-40 PMID: 9347413
  29. Genetic influences on blood lipids and cardiovascular disease risk: tools for primary prevention.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 May;89(5):1509S-1517S PMID: 19339403
  30. FTO: the first gene contributing to common forms of human obesity.
    Obes Rev. 2008 May;9(3):246-50 PMID: 18373508
  31. Clinical spectrum of obesity and mutations in the melanocortin 4 receptor gene.
    N Engl J Med. 2003 Mar 20;348(12):1085-95 PMID: 12646665
  32. Driving research in infant and children's nutrition: a perspective on industry.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 May;89(5):1530S-1532S PMID: 19279079
  33. The response to long-term overfeeding in identical twins.
    N Engl J Med. 1990 May 24;322(21):1477-82 PMID: 2336074
  34. Physical activity and the association of common FTO gene variants with body mass index and obesity.
    Arch Intern Med. 2008 Sep 8;168(16):1791-7 PMID: 18779467
  35. The biological predisposition to obesity: beyond the thrifty genotype scenario.
    Int J Obes (Lond). 2007 Sep;31(9):1337-9 PMID: 17356524
  36. Early risk determinants and later health outcomes: implications for research prioritization and the food supply. Summary of the workshop.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 May;89(5):1533S-1539S PMID: 19279080
  37. Birth weight and adult hypertension and obesity in women.
    Circulation. 1996 Sep 15;94(6):1310-5 PMID: 8822985
  38. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004.
    JAMA. 2006 Apr 5;295(13):1549-55 PMID: 16595758
  39. Intrapair resemblance in very low calorie diet-induced weight loss in female obese identical twins.
    Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2000 Aug;24(8):1051-7 PMID: 10951545
  40. Role of candidate genes in the responses to long-term overfeeding: review of findings.
    Obes Rev. 2004 Feb;5(1):3-12 PMID: 14969502
  41. The response to exercise with constant energy intake in identical twins.
    Obes Res. 1994 Sep;2(5):400-10 PMID: 16358397
  42. The obesity-associated FTO gene encodes a 2-oxoglutarate-dependent nucleic acid demethylase.
    Science. 2007 Nov 30;318(5855):1469-72 PMID: 17991826
  43. Body mass index from childhood to middle age: a 50-y follow-up.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 1992 Jul;56(1):14-8 PMID: 1609751
  44. Genetic regulation of birth weight and fasting glucose by a common polymorphism in the islet cell promoter of the glucokinase gene.
    Diabetes. 2005 Feb;54(2):576-81 PMID: 15677518
  45. Monogenic obesity in humans.
    Annu Rev Med. 2005;56:443-58 PMID: 15660521
  46. The predictive value of childhood body mass index values for overweight at age 35 y.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 1994 Apr;59(4):810-9 PMID: 8147324
  47. Spouse resemblance in body mass index: effects on adult obesity prevalence in the offspring generation.
    Am J Epidemiol. 2007 Jan 1;165(1):101-8 PMID: 17041131
  48. The human obesity gene map: the 2005 update.
    Obesity (Silver Spring). 2006 Apr;14(4):529-644 PMID: 16741264
  49. High body mass index for age among US children and adolescents, 2003-2006.
    JAMA. 2008 May 28;299(20):2401-5 PMID: 18505949
  50. The association between the FTO gene and fat mass in humans develops by the postnatal age of two weeks.
    J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Apr;93(4):1501-5 PMID: 18252780
  51. Onset of obesity in a 36 year birth cohort study.
    Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1986 Aug 2;293(6542):299-303 PMID: 3089493
  52. Epigenetic mechanisms for nutrition determinants of later health outcomes.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 May;89(5):1488S-1493S PMID: 19261726
  53. Differential parental weight and height contributions to offspring birthweight and weight gain in infancy.
    Int J Epidemiol. 2007 Feb;36(1):104-7 PMID: 16984935
  54. Genetic and environmental influences on birth weight, birth length, head circumference, and gestational age by use of population-based parent-offspring data.
    Am J Epidemiol. 2007 Apr 1;165(7):734-41 PMID: 17311798
  55. A second generation human haplotype map of over 3.1 million SNPs.
    Nature. 2007 Oct 18;449(7164):851-61 PMID: 17943122
  56. Bivariate linkage confirms genetic contribution to fetal origins of childhood growth and cardiovascular disease risk in Hispanic children.
    Hum Genet. 2007 Jul;121(6):737-44 PMID: 17486370
  57. Do obese children become obese adults? A review of the literature.
    Prev Med. 1993 Mar;22(2):167-77 PMID: 8483856
  58. Epidemic obesity: are genetic factors involved via increased rates of assortative mating?
    Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2000 Mar;24(3):345-53 PMID: 10757629
  59. BMI, fat mass, abdominal adiposity and visceral fat: where is the 'beef'?
    Int J Obes (Lond). 2007 Oct;31(10):1552-3 PMID: 17549092
  60. Childhood body-mass index and the risk of coronary heart disease in adulthood.
    N Engl J Med. 2007 Dec 6;357(23):2329-37 PMID: 18057335
  61. Significant paternal contribution to the risk of small for gestational age.
    BJOG. 2005 Feb;112(2):153-9 PMID: 15663578
  62. Fatness and obesity of the parents of obese individuals.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 1989 Dec;50(6):1308-13 PMID: 2596422
  63. Prevalence of mutations and functional analyses of melanocortin 4 receptor variants identified among 750 men with juvenile-onset obesity.
    J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005 Jan;90(1):219-24 PMID: 15486053
  64. Parental determinants of birth weight.
    Clin Genet. 1984 Nov;26(5):397-405 PMID: 6499253
  65. Evidence for a strong genetic influence on childhood adiposity despite the force of the obesogenic environment.
    Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Feb;87(2):398-404 PMID: 18258631
  66. Spousal resemblance in the Canadian population: implications for the obesity epidemic.
    Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2002 Feb;26(2):241-6 PMID: 11850757
  67. Evaluation and integration of 49 genome-wide experiments and the prediction of previously unknown obesity-related genes.
    Bioinformatics. 2007 Nov 1;23(21):2910-7 PMID: 17921495
  68. Genetic and environmental influences on body size in early childhood: a twin birth-cohort study.
    Twin Res Hum Genet. 2007 Jun;10(3):479-85 PMID: 17564506
  69. Obesity--is it a genetic disorder?
    J Intern Med. 2003 Nov;254(5):401-25 PMID: 14535962
  70. Invited commentary: two studies of genetic control of birth weight where large data sets were available.
    Am J Epidemiol. 2007 Apr 1;165(7):753-5 PMID: 17311800
  71. Obesity in children and young people: a crisis in public health.
    Obes Rev. 2004 May;5 Suppl 1:4-104 PMID: 15096099
Article Info
Journal
The American journal of clinical nutrition
Abbr.
Am J Clin Nutr
ISSN
1938-3207
DOI
10.3945/ajcn.2009.27113C
Email
bouchac@pbrc.edu
Published
2009-05-00
Epub
2009-00-04
Pages
1494S-1501S
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0376027
PMCID
PMC2677002
Subset
IM
Grants
NHLBI NIH HHS · HL45670 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.27113C PMC Full Text View journal details
Analysis Services
Analysis Services

Contact

No. 2 Wenbo Road, Zhangqiu District, Jinan, Shandong

Qilu Normal University · Genelibs Bioinformatics Lab

750 Shunhua Rd, Jinan

2F, Bldg F, University Science Park

Tel: 0531-88819269

WeChat Official Account

Follow our WeChat subscription account for real-time updates and the latest in medical and biological research.


Business Email

E-mail: product@genelibs.com

Copyright © 2026.Genelibs Jinan Honghui Biotechnology Co., Ltd. 鲁ICP备20007159号-2