AUTHOR=Guevara-Ramírez Patricia , Cadena-Ullauri Santiago , Ruiz-Pozo Viviana A. , Tamayo-Trujillo Rafael , Paz-Cruz Elius , Simancas-Racines Daniel , Zambrano Ana Karina 

TITLE=Genetics, genomics, and diet interactions in obesity in the Latin American environment

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.1063286

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.1063286

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=Obesity is a chronic disease characterized by abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that could impact an individual’s health; moreover, the World Health Organization has declared obesity a global epidemic since 1997. In Latin America, in 2016, reports indicated that 24.2% of the adult population was obese. 

Genes could define susceptibility to a condition or disease, and the environmental factor or specific behaviors like dietary intake or physical activity could determine the development of that condition or disease such as obesity; hence, it is vital to understand the relationship between genes and disease. Indeed, nutrigenetics studies genetic variations and their effect on dietary response; while nutrigenomics study the role of nutrients in gene expression. 

The present review represents a compendium of genes and their SNPs associated with obesity, including the risk allele frequencies in the Latin American population. Additionally, a bibliographical selection of several studies has been included; these studies examined the impact that diet has on the expression of numerous genes involved in obesity-associated metabolic pathways.