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Genetics and Epigenetics: Myths or Facts?

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Abstract

With a very good reason, obesity is said to be a complex and heterogeneous trait. Its genetics are extremely cumbersome, its environmental etiology multifaceted, and the interactions of these, mediated in part by the epigenetics, are enormously complicated. Further, the consequences of obesity vary, sometimes following and sometimes dissociating from the degree of overweight. A proportion of obese individuals even remain free of metabolical complications. This phenomenon, too, may be genetic, environmental, epigenetic, or all of the three.

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Correspondence to Kirsi H. Pietiläinen MD, PhD, MSc in Nutrition .

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag London

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Pietiläinen, K.H. (2014). Genetics and Epigenetics: Myths or Facts?. In: Haslam, D., Sharma, A., le Roux, C. (eds) Controversies in Obesity. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2834-2_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2834-2_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-2833-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-2834-2

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