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Genetic Factors

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Epidemiology of Obesity in Children and Adolescents

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health ((SSEH,volume 2))

Abstract

Obesity is a complex disease influenced by genetic and environmental factors and by their interaction. The most quoted theories attribute the current worldwide surge of obesity in both adults and children to the interaction between a genetic predisposition toward efficient energy storage, which is the legacy of the ancestral hunter-gatherer society, and a permissive (obesogenic) environment of readily available food and sedentary behaviors as it is the modern environment. This genetic predisposition, commonly described as “thrifty genotype” (Neel 1962), is nowadays maladaptive, increasing the individual predisposition to obesity and related metabolic disorders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Epidemiology and Population Genetics, Institute of Food Sciences, CNR, Via Roma 64-83100, Avellino, Italy

    Paola Russo, Fabio Lauria & Alfonso Siani

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  1. Paola Russo
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  2. Fabio Lauria
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  3. Alfonso Siani
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Correspondence to Alfonso Siani .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Ciencias, Inst. Ciencia de Materiales de Aragon, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, 50009, Spain

    Luis A. Moreno

  2. FB Mathematik und Informatik, Inst. Statistik, Univ. Bremen, Bibliothekstr. 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany

    Iris Pigeot

  3. und Sozialmedizin (BIPS), Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung, Linzer Str. 8-10, Bremen, 28359, Germany

    Wolfgang Ahrens

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Russo, P., Lauria, F., Siani, A. (2011). Genetic Factors. In: Moreno, L., Pigeot, I., Ahrens, W. (eds) Epidemiology of Obesity in Children and Adolescents. Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health, vol 2. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6039-9_14

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