An international team of genetics researchers have identified at least two new gene variants that increase the risk of common childhood obesity, according to a study published online this week in Nature Genetics.
As one of the major health issues affecting modern societies, obesity has increasingly received public attention, especially given a rising prevalence of the condition among children. Research indicates that obese adolescents tend to have higher risk of mortality as adults. Although environmental factors such as food choices and sedentary habits contribute to the increasing rates of obesity in childhood, twin studies and other family-based evidence have suggested a genetic component to the disease as well.
Previous studies have identified gene variants contributing to obesity in adults and in children with extreme obesity, but relatively little is known about genes implicated in regular childhood obesity.
In the new study, researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia recruited and genotyped the world’s largest collection of DNA from children with common obesity. In order to have sufficient statistical power to detect novel genetic signals, they formed a large international consortium to combine results from similar datasets from around the world. The U.S. National Institutes of Health partly funded this research, which analyzed previous studies supported by many other European, Australian and North American organizations.
The current meta-analysis included 14 previous studies encompassing 5,530 cases of childhood obesity and 8,300 control subjects, all of European ancestry. The study team identified two novel loci, one near the OLFM4 gene on chromosome 13, the other within the HOXB5 gene on chromosome 17. They also found a degree of evidence for two other gene variants. None of the genes were previously implicated in obesity.
“This work opens up new avenues to explore the genetics of common childhood obesity,” said lead investigator Struan Grant, associate director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “Much work remains to be done, but these findings may ultimately be useful in helping to design future preventive interventions and treatments for children, based on their individual genomes.”
Keywords: childhood, obesity, genes, childhood obesity
I agree with both the comments above. However the report clearly mentions that the role that genes play in Obese children is an additional component among other causal factors identified by other research and expert opinions. Indian parents and for that matter American parents are basically lousy when it comes to parenting children in a rationale manner. They not only overfeed their children till they become incapacitated but also does not encourage sport (except for cricket, i suppose) to their children.
This is the tragedy that has hit our children, flab was a rarity in the Indian scenario but we too are soon catching up with the equally lousy American parents and children. Perhaps, affluence and ignorance are other two debilitating factors in the 'bloating' health of our innocent childrens. It is not times or cultural influences which should get the blame but it should more hanoestly lie on individuals and the parents themselves.
Of course , but we have to consider other contributing factor for obesity like our food system, table work ,lack of play ground.Present food habits were taking them for getting obesity in their childhood stage. Today the children were spending their huge time with their table than the play ground. In 1990s we used play at near to our house. But today , we have to search the play ground for play . The distance between the home to play ground is a next problem. All these problems is reduced their physical work and cause them to get obesity in very earlier stage.
Yes, agreed, but genes alone may not be the contributing factor. Milk in its varied products such as cheese; meats in their products such as peperoni, sausages; soft drink in their products such as the sodas enriched with sugar and corn syrup; on the whole the readily and plentifully availability of the western foods have recently made our Indian Kids both in India and here in the US obese! It is really funny to see the young couple who just arrive here in the US pick up ‘whole milk’ commenting to them-selves that why they should pay the same price for the low fat or the 1% fat milk! Their sheer size proves what the whole milk did to them!
Yes, agreed, but genes alone may not be the contributing factor. Milk in its varied products such as cheese; meats in their products such as peperoni, sausages; soft drink in their products such as the sodas enriched with sugar and corn syrup; on the whole the readily and plentifully availability of the western foods have recently made our Indian Kids both in India and here in the US obese! It is really funny to see the young couple who just arrive here in the US pick up whole-milk commenting to them-selves that why they should pay the same price for the low fat or the 1% fat milk! Their sheer size proves what the whole-milk did to them!
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