Overweight studies negatively alter the genome

Overweight: Recent study confirms association
Obviously, the human genome can be influenced by being overweight. This suggests an international study led by Helmholtz Zentrum München and Imperial College London, which involved more than 10,000 Europeans. The scientists examined possible relationships between obesity and epigenetic changes. They took blood samples and determined the body mass index (BMI). BMI is a common measure of body weight and gives the ratio of weight (in kg) to height (in m squared).

While the genes themselves barely change, lifestyle can directly affect the environment of stored genetic information. This also includes too high a body weight, which is often associated with complications such as diabetes, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Obesity impairs the health of the offspring (Image: SENTELLO / fotolia.com)

Specifically, the team of scientists examined at which points of the DNA so-called methyl groups were present. These are small chemical groups that regulate the accessibility of certain genes. Such changes in the epigenome (this describes all states around the genes) cause genes to be read more or less without the stored information changing. In this way, cells can control when which proteins are produced and in what quantities.

The evaluation of the data has shown that an excessively high BMI at 187 sites of the genome leads to epigenetic changes. These were, above all, genes responsible for lipid metabolism and mass transfer. It also affected genes involved in inflammatory processes. Further investigations have shown that most of these changes were not the cause, but the result of overweight. The same was true of the epigenome of cells in adipose tissue. Epigenetic markers could even be identified to assess type 2 diabetes risk.

The research in this area will be continued, write the scientists in the journal "Nature". Other biologically relevant tissues should be examined. A long-term goal is to use this background knowledge to predict and possibly prevent type 2 diabetes and other consequences of obesity. Heike Kreutz, aid