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Causes and consequences of obesity: the contribution of recent twin studies

International Journal of Obesity volume 36, pages 1017–1024 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Obesity is a genetically complex disorder that produces a myriad of health problems. Most of the recognized complications of obesity are not only strongly influenced by lifestyle factors, but also present with independent genetic predispositions that are notoriously difficult to disentangle in humans. Most studies on the causes and consequences of acquired obesity are encumbered by the incomplete ability to control for genetic influences. However, utilizing a unique experiment of nature, namely monozygotic twins (MZ) discordant for obesity as ‘clonal controls’ of obese and non-obese individuals has enabled the fine characterization of the effects and possible antecedents of acquired obesity while controlling for the genetic background, as well as pointed to novel obesity predisposing candidate genes. This review is a distillation of the findings from more than 10 years of research done in an exceptionally well-characterized collection of MZ and dizygotic (DZ) twins, based on the Finnish Twin Cohorts. Topics covered include the nature of development of obesity from the childhood onwards, the role of exercise in modifying the genetic susceptibility, the resulting inflammatory, prediabetic and preatherosclerotic changes in whole body and adipose tissue physiology, as well as the newest insights provided by the omics revolution.

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the Helsinki University Hospital Research Funds (AR, KHP), grants from Novo Nordisk, Gyllenberg, Yrjö Jahnsson, Biomedicum Helsinki, Jalmari and Rauha Ahokas Foundation, and the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research (KHP), the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics, EU FP5 project GenomEUtwin, and EU FP7 projects DIOGENES, ENGAGE and TORNADO (JK). We wish to thank professors Hannele Yki-Järvinen, Matej Oresic, Leena Peltonen, the TwinFat team and the Finnish twins for their invaluable help in the metabolic and genetic studies described in this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine and Department of Psychiatry, Obesity Research Unit, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    J Naukkarinen, A Rissanen & K H Pietiläinen

  2. FIMM, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    J Naukkarinen, J Kaprio & K H Pietiläinen

  3. Public Health Genomics Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    J Naukkarinen

  4. Department of Public Health, Finnish Twin Cohort Study, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    J Kaprio & K H Pietiläinen

  5. National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    J Kaprio

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  1. J Naukkarinen
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Correspondence to K H Pietiläinen.

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Naukkarinen, J., Rissanen, A., Kaprio, J. et al. Causes and consequences of obesity: the contribution of recent twin studies. Int J Obes 36, 1017–1024 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2011.192

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