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Obesity and Genetics: A Public Health Perspective

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Obesity and Genetics: A Public Health Perspective


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Welcome to the Public Health Perspective Series, the Office of Genomics and Disease Prevention's highlights page. Each Public Health Perspective focuses on a single topic and contains information and commentary on discoveries of genetic variants, related disease outcomes, and the complex social, legal, and ethical issues surrounding genetic discoveries. Topics are examined from a public health perspective, and readers are encouraged to participate in an ongoing discussion in the reader's forum.

This month, we are examining the topic Obesity and Genetics:  A Public Health Perspective (February 2002)

" As a nation, we need to respond as vigorously to this (obesity) epidemic as we do to an infectious disease epidemic.National efforts are needed to encourage physical activity and better nutrition and to conduct research to identify effective educational, behavioral, and environmental approaches to control and prevent obesity."
Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan, Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

"Obesity and Genetics: A Public Health Perspective" is a collaborative effort by the CDC's Office of Genomics and Disease Prevention and the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Please direct additional questions and inquires about obesity and overweight to Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity .



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The Public Health Perspective
 
  • Obesity and Genetics: A Public Health Perspective
    Studies are showing that the genes are not destiny but are still a significant factor in developing obesity. Studying the genetics of obesity will lead us to a greater understanding of the metabolic condition of obesity and help us to explore new options for prevention and treatment.
   
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The Problem of Obesity
  "Today, in the developed world, the incidence of obesity is rising and there are now as many obese people in the world as there are people suffering from hunger."  
Phillip Campbell, Editor, Nature and Ritu Dhand, Associate Editor, Nature.  Nature 404 (6778):631 April 6, 2000
  • Obesity and Overweight: Basics about Overweight and Obesity
    "Obesity is defined as an excessively high amount of body fat or adipose tissue in relation to lean body mass. The amount of body fat (or adiposity) includes concern for both the distribution of fat throughout the body and the size of the adipose tissue deposits. Overweight refers to increased body weight in relation to height, when compared to some standard of acceptable or desirable weights."
  • U.S. Obesity Trends 1985 to 2002
    The prevalence of obesity is explained in a slide presentation format. You may view the slides online or download them as a Microsoft PowerPoint Document (PPT).
  • Adults
    Recent results of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999 indicate that an estimated 61 percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or more.
  • Children
    The percentage of children and adolescents who are defined as overweight has more than doubled since the early1970s. About 13 percent of children and adolescents are now seriously overweight.
  • The Cost of Obesity in the United States
    Americans spend $33 billion annually on weight-loss products and services. (This figure represents consumer dollars spent in the early 1990s on all efforts at weight loss or weight maintenance including low-calorie foods, artificially sweetened products such as diet sodas, and memberships to commercial weight-loss centers.)
   
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Genetics of Obesity

 

"If some environmental variables manifest themselves only on certain genotypes, efforts to prevent obesity at a public health level can be focused on recognition and counseling of susceptible individuals. In addition, appreciating the importance of genetic variation as an underlying cause helps to dispel the notion that obesity represents an individual defect in behavior with no biological basis and provides a starting point for efforts to identify the genes involved."
Gregory S. Barash, I. Sadaf Farooqi and Stephen O'Rahilly
Nature 2000; 404:644-651

   
  Preventing and Decreasing Overweight and Obesity
 
   
  Obesity Organizations
 
  • The Weight-control Information Network (WIN)
    Win is a national information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health (NIH).

  • Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS®)
    TOPS® is an international family of 235,000 members of all ages, sizes, and shapes, from all walks of life, dedicated to helping each other take off-and keep off-pounds sensibly.

  • The American Obesity Association
    The American Obesity Association exists to educate the public about obesity, encourage efforts to prevent obesity, advocate for research, better care and appropriate services, and end discrimination against those who suffer from obesity.

  • Be Active America
    A non-profit Washington, DC-based organization whose mission is to encourage individuals, families, organizations and communities to participate in, promote and support physical activity to reduce the human and economic burden of diseases related to inactive lifestyles.

  • Overeaters Anonymous (OA)
    Overeaters Anonymous (OA) is a fellowship of men and women who meet in order to help solve a common problem - compulsive overeating. OA is a non-profit international organization that provides volunteer support groups worldwide. Patterned after the Twelve-Step Alcoholics Anonymous program, the OA recovery program addresses physical, emotional and spiritual recovery aspects of compulsive overeating.

  • The North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO)
    The leading scientific society dedicated to the science of obesity research, treatment and management.  NAASO members, many of them leaders in the field, include basic and clinical researchers and clinicians from diverse backgrounds and training.  The official NAASO journal,
    Obesity Research, is a peer-reviewed, monthly publication and the premier publication in the obesity field. 

   
  Journal Articles
 
   
  News Articles
 
  • Government warns that being fat might surpass smoking as a killer
    (March 10, 2004) Associated Press
    More Americans soon will be dying of obesity than from smoking if current trends persist, which would make being fat the nation's No. 1 cause of preventable death, the government says.
     
  • Why Some People Won't Be Fit Despite Exercise (Free Registration Required)
    (February 12, 2002) New York Times
    "Conventional wisdom has it that anyone who really wants to become fit can do so. But when a few intrepid scientists began asking... they found that fitness, like weight loss, has genetic underpinnings, making it inherently much easier for some to get fit than it is for others."
  • Parents Should Spur Kids' Activity from Cradle on
    (February 6, 2002) Medline (Reuters Health)
    "New guidelines released Wednesday encourage US parents and caregivers to foster physical activity in children beginning in infancy in an effort to combat the nation's growing obesity epidemic."
  • Researchers Identify Link Between Obesity And Type 2 Diabetes
    (January 16, 2002) Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
    "Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have identified a mechanism that helps explain how the hormone leptin acts to metabolize fatty acids in muscle, establishing for the first time a novel molecular link between obesity and diabetes, and creating the possibility of a new target for the development of drugs to help manage both conditions."
  • Modest weight loss may cut heart risks of obesity
    (January 14, 2002) Reuters Health reports, "Obese people may lower their heart disease risk by losing a moderate amount of weight, as shedding pounds appears to cut blood levels of proteins involved in inflammation, according to Italian researchers."
  • Insulin Pill Fights Obesity
    (January 31, 2002) MSN Web MD
    "As a nation, we're getting fatter...We all want a quick fix, but so far, that magic bullet has eluded us. Now, researchers may have found a solution. Fat rats given a new pill that mimics insulin, a hormone naturally found in the body, ate less and lost weight."
  • Unique UNC study confirms suspected worldwide epidemic of childhood obesity
    (October 23, 2001) EurekAlert
    "Twenty-five of every 100 U.S. children are either overweight or obese, but children from other major nations are beginning to weigh too much as well, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study concludes. Sixteen percent of Russian youths are overweight or downright fat, and the figure for Chinese children is 7 percent."
  • Proof that Obesity is in Your Genes
    (September 26, 2001) Cosmiverse
    "Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have concluded that obesity or at least the inclination toward it is due in part to heredity after a study of 101 girls and their parents."
  • Obesity gene pinpointed
    (August 12, 2001) BBC News
    "An obesity gene which could pass from father to child has been discovered by scientists in Paris."
   
  Presentation Slides About Genetics and Obesity
 
   
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Reader's Forum
 

The Reader's Forum is an opportunity to share your thoughts about Obesity and Genetics:  A Public Health Perspective. Please participate by sending us your comments on this or any in our series of Public Health Perspectives.

Reader's comments

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Last Updated October 18, 2004