Genetics, physiology and perinatal influences in childhood obesity: view from the Chair.

The current epidemic of childhood obesity will be a serious threat to population health for at least the next several decades. The biology of childhood obesity was the theme of an international symposium held in November 2007. Speakers discussed monogenic causes of obesity, prenatal epigenetic programming, neurobehavioral aspects of obesity, and hormonal and neuroendocrine abnormalities, and the insights provided by non-murine models for understanding the biology of early-onset obesity. Several new developments have been reported in white and brown adipose tissue biology. They are summarized briefly in this review and include observations about cell lineage of adipocytes, the renewal of adipocytes throughout life and the numerous factors that influence adipocyte fatty acid release. The biological underpinnings of childhood obesity are multiple and complex.