Interdisciplinary consortium on obesity prevention in children and adolescents; SP2: Genetic factors influencing pathways to obesity
Description
- Common obesity is a complex trait that depends on different environmental factors as well as several susceptibility genes with low or at best moderate penetrance. In recent decades, lifestyle changed drastically leading to an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure in many populations, and therefore to rising prevalences of obesity. The genetic factors causing individual variation in efficiency of fat storage or metabolic response to physical activity are of special interest. In this project, basically three research questions were addressed: 1) identification of genetic factors determining relevant biological pathways to obesity, 2) exploration of the heritability of phenotypes related to physical activity (PA) and physical fitness (PF), and 3) assessment of potential benefits of tailored intervention programmes.
A literature search was conducted to select decisive genes and SNPs with partially known functions based on their relative impact on the development of obesity, the level of evidence for this, and their potential with regard to intervention targets (1). The search included mainly published genome-wide association studies to select genes with relevant (main-)effects. In a further literature search, gene-environment interactions of the selected genes/ SNPs were identified to uncover promising individual intervention possibilities. A total of 23 different genes/ SNPs were identified and categorised into two priority groups. Physiological functions related to overweight/ obesity were described for the genes/ SNPs of the first category (11 genes/ SNPs) and gene-environment interactions were identified. Reported gene-environment interactions were displayed in a cross tabulation of genes/ SNPs and potential intervention targets, and evaluated with regard to their prospects for individual interventions (3). Statistical evidence of a reported gene-environment interaction and the quality of the measurement method for the environmental factors (PF, PA) was considered in the evaluating process.
An exploratory family study was conducted to investigate the heritability of PF, to determine interactions of PF and PA, and to investigate paired associations of PF, PA and obesity (2). For this purpose, children with high and low PF were identified from the IDEFICS cohort and were examined together with their parents and their siblings regarding PA and PF. Familial aggregation of PF was statistically significant. This association decreased, however still significant, when adjusting for PA and/ or BMI. High PF was protective against overweight/ obesity. The association of high PA and overweight/ obesity varied depending on the cut-off values for moderate to vigorous PA.
Funding period
- Begin: August 2008
End: July 2011
Sponsor
- Federal Ministry of Education and Research: Disease-related Competence Network Obesity
Contact
Links
Selected project-related publications
- Herrmann D, Hebestreit A, Ahrens W. Einfluss von körperlicher Aktivität und Sport auf die Knochengesundheit im Lebenslauf. Ein Überblick. Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz. 2012;55(1):35-54.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00103-011-1393-z - Winkler S, Hebestreit A, Ahrens W. Körperliche Aktivität und Adipositas. Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz. 2012;55(1):24-34.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00103-011-1386-y - Lanfer A, Hebestreit A, Ahrens W. Einfluss der Ernährung und des Essverhaltens auf die Entwicklung der Adipositas bei Kindern und Jugendlichen. Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz. 2010;53(7):690-698.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00103-010-1086-z - Pigeot I, Buck C, Herrmann D, Ahrens W. Übergewicht und Adipositas bei Kindern und Jugendlichen. Die weltweite Situation. Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz. 2010;53(7):653-665.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00103-010-1083-2 - Winkler S, Picó C, Ahrens W. Physiologische Mechanismen in der Entwicklung von Adipositas. Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz. 2010;53(7):681-689.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00103-010-1089-9