Understanding the contemporary high obesity rate from an evolutionary genetic perspective

The topic of obesity is gaining increasing popularity globally. From an evolutionary genetic perspective, it is believed that the main cause of the high obesity rate is the mismatch between environment and genes after people have shifted toward a modern high-calorie diet. However, it has been debate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hereditas 2023-02, Vol.160 (1), p.5-5, Article 5
Main Authors: Wu, Tong, Xu, Shuhua
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological Evolution
Body mass index
Diabetes
Disease
Drifty gene hypothesis
Evolution
Evolutionary genetics
Famine
Food
Gene expression
Gene loci
Genome-wide association studies
Genome-Wide Association Study
Genomes
Glucose
Haplotypes
Homeostasis
Humans
Hypotheses
Industrial Revolution
Insulin resistance
Lipids
Maladaptation viewpoint
Medical research
Metabolism
Obesity
Obesity - genetics
Paleolithic
Physiology
Precision medicine
Review
Thrifty gene hypothesis
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Summary:The topic of obesity is gaining increasing popularity globally. From an evolutionary genetic perspective, it is believed that the main cause of the high obesity rate is the mismatch between environment and genes after people have shifted toward a modern high-calorie diet. However, it has been debated for over 60 years about how obesity-related genes become prevalent all over the world. Here, we review the three most influential hypotheses or viewpoints, i.e., the thrifty gene hypothesis, the drifty gene hypothesis, and the maladaptation viewpoint. In particular, genome-wide association studies in the recent 10 years have provided rich findings and evidence to be considered for a better understanding of the evolutionary genetic mechanisms of obesity. We anticipate this brief review to direct further studies and inspire the future application of precision medicine in obesity treatment.
ISSN:1601-5223
0018-0661
1601-5223
DOI:10.1186/s41065-023-00268-x