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See Latest ArticlesEvidence of Shared Genetic Effects Between Pre- and Postobesity Epidemic BMI Levels
Obesity, 11/03/09
Martin LJ et al. – Although the obesogenic environment may have changed between the 1970s and 2000s, many of the same genes are likely to be involved in establishing genetic susceptibility to obesity. Furthermore, shared genetic effects survive the period of the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
John A. Morrison, 11/06/09
| The rapid increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the past generation, the early-mid 1980s to the present, has raised important questions about the respective contributions of genes and environment to this phenomenon. Since the increase has been so rapid, it is unlikely that the frequency of genes related to obesity susceptibility could have increased quickly in but one generation, but it is entirely possible that new environmental challenges interacting differentially with genes could accelerate weight gain. For example the marked increased in the use of high fructose corn syrup and the widespread substitution of hydrogenation vegetable fats (high in trans fatty acids) for beef tallow and other animal fats high in saturated fatty acids (originally advocated as a healthy shift by the Center for Science in the Public Interest) in this period both arguably contributed to the weight gain problem. The key findings in our paper are that body mass index levels (BMI) exhibited strong heritability estimates when the former students and their parents lived together and 25 years later when participants had separate households, showing that the familial correlations for BMI clearly survive the shared household environment and suggesting that many of the same genes are influencing BMI levels, but now interacting with new environmental factors. To put these findings in a perspective that might clarify some issues, think about the Finnish experience in fighting the high fat, high cholesterol diet, associated high levels of total and LDL-cholesterol and, the corresponding high incidence of cardiovascular disease. Starting with preventive health interventions of the North Karelia Study in 1972, the Finns have seen a marked reduction in consumption of saturated fats, an increase in the consumption of unsaturated fats and vegetables, and a marked decrease in CVD mortality. There is still a wide range of total and LDL cholesterol levels in the population, perhaps with somewhat the same rank order of persons, but the overall distributions have shifted to lower levels, resulting in fewer people above various high risk cutoffs. In the same way, the shifts in the BMI distribution towards higher BMI begin at about the 35th -40th percentile and increase with increasing BMI percentiles, so that the upper 75th, 85, 90th, 95h, and 99th percentiles shifted to even higher BMI (greater percentages at Class 2 and 3 obesity—ie ? 35 kg/m2 and 40 kg/m2. It may even be that the same individuals that are now in Class 3 obesity would have been overweight or even obese, but the degree of obesity has increased as genes and the new environmental factors interact. |
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