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Gene-Environment Interaction and Individual Susceptibility to Metabolic Disorders

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Beyond Our Genes

Abstract

Genetic and environmental interactions are important for the development of metabolic disorders such as obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and type 2 diabetes (T2D). It is well-established that environmental factors have a major impact on obesity and to some degree on T2D. This chapter focuses on the genetic causes of obesity and T2D, and the potential interactions with environmental and behavioral factors which may contribute to the ongoing increase in these diagnoses. Research in the last decades have demonstrated that while genetic variations explain a substantial proportion of the heritability, known genetic risk loci can only explain a minor fraction of the inter-individual variations in the two conditions. At present, the benefits of genetic risk scores are therefore limited, at least for interventions aimed against common forms of obesity and T2D.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine (H7), Karolinska Institutet, C2-94, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

    Ingrid Dahlman & Mikael Rydén

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  1. Ingrid Dahlman
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  2. Mikael Rydén
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Correspondence to Ingrid Dahlman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Head of the Environmental Epigenetics Group, Institute of Experimental Genetics & German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Helmholtz Zentrum München GmbH – German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Bayern, Germany

    Raffaele Teperino

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Dahlman, I., Rydén, M. (2020). Gene-Environment Interaction and Individual Susceptibility to Metabolic Disorders. In: Teperino, R. (eds) Beyond Our Genes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35213-4_5

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