Posts Tagged ‘epigenetics’

A fascinating new study in Nature Metabolism suggests how climate temperatures might affect obesity risk in a surprising way – at conception. Takeshi Yoneshiro and colleagues conducted a careful study of the potential effects of climate on obesity risk. They found that obesity is less likely when conception occurs during cold seasons. In a commentary […]

Fat cells don’t forget. That simple fact comes from new research published in Nature yesterday which explains a fundamental truth about obesity that eludes most people in their thinking about this condition. It is a chronic disease. Fat cells have an epigenetic memory for obesity they retain even when people lose a lot of weight. […]

Epigenetics seems to be growing up and facing the inevitable questions that come to a maturing science. A new study of trauma experienced by POWs in the Civil War adds to the evidence that sons (perhaps even grandsons) can inherit the physical effects of that trauma. So naturally, people are asking hard questions about these […]

Is the die already cast for obesity when an infant is born? Maybe not entirely, but in new research this week, we have fresh insight into physiology that can stack the odds before birth. Sobha Puppala and colleagues found that maternal obesity during pregnancy can lead to fatty liver in a fetus. So at birth, […]

We’ve read much lately about how important maternal health is to preventing obesity in the next generation. It’s becoming equally clear that healthy dads are important for having healthy kids. Obesity travels through families and across generations. In both animals and humans, evidence is accumulating to say that epigenetic transmission of obesity can come from […]

Research presented this week at the Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association adds to the growing understanding that mothers may be key to preventing obesity in children. As this knowledge becomes increasingly solid, a major re-thinking of efforts to prevent childhood obesity will be inevitable. Kristen Boyle and colleagues from the University of Colorado found […]

Obesity headlines this past week have been filled with the revelation that birthdays after 1942 are unhappy birthdays if you’re concerned about the risk of obesity. The headlines go like this: Your Birth Year Could Influence Your Odds for Obesity Obesity Linked to Year of Birth Birth Year Affects Obesity Risk The Year You Were […]

The tipping point in obesity increasingly looks like it might be traced to the metabolic health of mothers. Growing evidence for epigenetic effects of maternal health that transmit obesity from mother to child is part of this picture. A symposium at ObesityWeek 2014 provided an excellent overview of the emerging science on epigenetic mechanisms for […]

New data published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences adds yet more evidence that obesity treatment and prevention go hand in hand. A team of researchers at Laval University showed that genes associated with obesity are suppressed in children born to a mother after she had obesity surgery. The result: […]

Research presented yesterday at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) further explains how air pollution can cause new cases of asthma by triggering genetic and immune system changes. The senior investigator, Kari Nadeau, said,  “We’ve shown that the gene being changed is directly associated with asthma and severity of the asthma.”  Nadeau […]