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Abstract

Childhood obesity is a preventable disease affecting millions of youth in the United States. Its prevalence is spreading throughout the world and has been declared one of the most serious health challenges of the twenty-first century by the World Health Organization (2015). The role of epigenetics in child obesity remains to be determined, although several twin and other research studies implicate methylation and chromatin remodeling of gene regions that have been associated with obesity. While it is known that the environment affects the expression of certain genes associated with excess adiposity, the nature of the cause–effect relationship is not yet clear.

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Correspondence to Caroline Hohensee Ph.D., M.H.A. .

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Hohensee, C., Varela, T., Harris, D. (2016). Child Obesity and Epigenetics. In: Hollar, D. (eds) Epigenetics, the Environment, and Children’s Health Across Lifespans. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25325-1_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25325-1_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-25323-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-25325-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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