title: Role of metabolic phenotyping in understanding obesity and related conditions in Gulf Co-operation Council countries.
abstract: Obesity is a major health concern in the Middle East and the incidence is rising in all sections of the population. Efforts to control obesity through diet and lifestyle interventions, and by surgical means, have had limited effect, and the gene-environment interactions underpinning the development of obesity and related pathologies such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers are poorly defined. Lifestyle, genetics, inflammation and the interaction between the intestinal bacteria and host metabolism have all been implicated in creating an obesogenic environment. We summarize the role of metabolic and microbial phenotyping in understanding the aetiopathogenesis of obesity and in characterizing the metabolic responses to surgical and non-surgical interventions, and explore the potential for clinical translation of this approach.
authors.affiliation: Drug Metabolism Unit, King Fahad Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Section of Biomolecular Medicine, Division of Computational and Systems Medicine, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ashrafian
authors.affiliation: Section of Biomolecular Medicine, Division of Computational and Systems Medicine, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alsaleh
authors.affiliation: Drug Metabolism Unit, King Fahad Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.|Section of Biomolecular Medicine, Division of Computational and Systems Medicine, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Holmes
mesh_terms: D050110:Bariatric Surgery; D004035:Diet Therapy; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008877:Middle East; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy; D010641:Phenotype
keywords: Diabetes; Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries; metabolic profiling; obesity