Obesity Before Birth: Maternal and prenatal influences on the offspring (Endocrine Updates Book 30)

Obesity obeys the First Law of Thermodynamics. The routine assumption is that obesity is the result of a mismatch between calories in and calories out; in other words, the result of two divergent behaviors. However, there is mounting evidence that biochemical forces can drive obligate weight gain, and that the observed behaviors of increased energy intake and decreased energy expenditure are secondary to these processes. Furthermore, many of these biochemical forces are determined in utero; resulting in a developmental drive toward obesity and disease in later life. Four distinct prenatal forces have thus far been identified: 1) genetics; 2) epigenetics; 3) developmental programming; and 4) environmental obesogens. This volume explores the evidence for each of these in detail in human and animal models, and attempts to provide a cohesive analysis of the biochemical bases of obesity. This volume will appeal to geneticists, developmental biologists, endocrinologists, epidemiologists, toxicologists, obstetrician/gynecologists, nutritionists, veterinary scientists, animal husbandry researchers, domestic species researchers, and obesity researchers and practitioners. "This very timely volume provides an in-depth scholarly overview of a critical challenge facing our society—the obesity epidemic. Dr. Robert H. Lustig has assembled expert authors to address the fundamental contribution of preprogrammed genetic disorders leading to obesity, as well as the role of very early environmental influences. The chapters range from classic genetic mechanistic understanding through intra-uterine epigenetic influences, factors determining developmental programming, and the new clinical science of perinatal obesogens. Obesity Before Birth: Maternal and prenatal influences on the offspring, brings easily accessible, cutting edge information to geneticists, pediatricians, endocrinologists, as well as those clinicians and scientists pursuing the complex yet elusive causes of childhood obesity and related disorders." - Shlomo Melmed, M.D. Series Editor Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 23-23 Obesity: Nature or Nurture?....Pages 1-22 Front Matter....Pages 23-23 The Contribution of Heredity to Clinical Obesity....Pages 25-52 Monogenic Disorders Within the Energy Balance Pathway....Pages 53-69 Ciliary Syndromes and Obesity....Pages 71-93 Genome-Wide Association Studies and Human Population Obesity....Pages 95-112 Front Matter....Pages 113-113 Known Clinical Epigenetic Disorders with an Obesity Phenotype: Prader–Willi Syndrome and the GNAS Locus....Pages 115-145 Evidence for Epigenetic Changes as a Cause of Clinical Obesity....Pages 147-166 Epigenetic Changes Associated with Intrauterine Growth Retardation and Adipogenesis....Pages 167-189 Front Matter....Pages 191-191 Exposure to Diabetes In Utero, Offspring Growth, and Risk for Obesity....Pages 193-204 Maternal Weight Gain During Pregnancy and Obesity in the Offspring....Pages 205-214 Intrauterine Growth Restriction, Small for Gestational Age, and Experimental Obesity....Pages 215-239 Experimental Models of Maternal Obesity and High-Fat Diet During Pregnancy and Programmed Obesity in the Offspring....Pages 241-259 High-Carbohydrate Intake Only During the Suckling Period Results in Adult-Onset Obesity in Mother as well as Offspring....Pages 261-277 Prenatal Stress, Glucocorticoids, and the Metabolic Syndrome....Pages 279-300 Hypothalamic Fetal Programming of Energy Homeostasis....Pages 301-319 Adipocyte Development and Experimental Obesity....Pages 321-352 Front Matter....Pages 353-353 The Obesogen Hypothesis of Obesity: Overview and Human Evidence....Pages 355-365 Perinatal Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals with Estrogenic Activity and the Development of Obesity....Pages 367-382 The Role of Environmental Obesogens in the Obesity Epidemic....Pages 383-399 Back Matter....Pages 401-412 Obesity obeys the First Law of Thermodynamics. The routine assumption is that obesity is the result of a mismatch between calories in and calories out; in other words, the result of two divergent behaviors. However, there is mounting evidence that biochemical forces can drive obligate weight gain, and that the observed behaviors of increased energy intake and decreased energy expenditure are secondary to these processes. Furthermore, many of these biochemical forces are determined in utero; resulting in a developmental drive toward obesity and disease in later life. Four distinct prenatal forces have thus far been identified:1)genetics; 2) epigenetics; 3)developmental programming; and 4)enviornmental obesogens. This volume explores the evidence for each of these an detail in human and animal models, and attempts to provide a cohesive analysis of the biochemical bases of obesity This volume will explore the epidemiology and the basic mechanisms of each of these prenatal phenomena, in an attempt to explain the role of the prenatal environment in promoting postnatal weight gain. This information will contribute to resolving the nature-nurture controversy. This information provides guidance to clinical practitioners involved in both prenatal and postnatal care. This volume further stimulates research into underlying mechanisms and prevention and treatment of this phenomenon.