title: The inheritance of obesity.
abstract: Syndromic adiposity appears to have a predisposition to run in families suggesting a hereditary element in its transmission. Purely genetic defects and DNA sequence variants have been directly associated with the development of adiposity; however, these account for a very small proportion of cases. A stronger association has been made between the intrauterine and early childhood nutritional environment of the foetus and young child and the predisposition of childhood and subsequent adulthood obesity. The nutritional environments include both a situation of nutritional deprivation or excess working through the interplay of epigenetic changes, and pancreatic and hypothalamic development. This is further compounded by the nutritional and lifestyle attitudes of the particular at-risk family. Adiposity prevention measures must include reenforced intervention strategies stating with lifestyle education schemes during pregnancy followed through until infancy and early childhood especially in those families/individuals identified as being at a risk of developing significant adiposity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Malta Medical School, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, Malta. Electronic address: charles.savona-ventura@um.edu.mt.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Savona-Ventura
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Services, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, Malta. Electronic address: stephanie.savona-ventura@gov.mt.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Savona-Ventura
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004777:Environment; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007228:Infant Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008019:Life Style; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D039401:Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
keywords: disease aetiology; environmental epigenetics; epimutations; maternal transmission; metabolic syndrome; obesity-associated disease