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Gamete/Embryo-Fetal Origins of Obesity

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Gamete and Embryo-fetal Origins of Adult Diseases

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Abstract

Obesity is defined as abnormal or accumulation of excessive fat accumulation. More than 1.4 billion adults were overweight in 2008, of these over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese. Obesity has become one of the most important risk factors contributing to the overall burden of diseases worldwide, so much so that the World Health Organization (WHO) has called obesity an epidemic.

Origins of obesity and metabolic dysfunction can be traced back to the embryonic and fetal stages of life, when the developing fetus is acted upon by, and responds to, sub-optimal, intrauterine environments during critical periods of cellular proliferation, differentiation, and maturation. It produces structural and functional changes in cells, tissues and organ systems. These changes may have long-term consequences increasing an individual’s risk for developing complex common disorders including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and tumours. In this chapter, we will discuss the evidence related to embryo-fetal origins of obesity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of Reproductive Genetics, Zhejiang University, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    He-Feng Huang, Min Jin & Xian-Hua Lin

  2. Department of Reproductive Endocrinology, Women’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    He-Feng Huang, Min Jin & Xian-Hua Lin

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  1. He-Feng Huang
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  2. Min Jin
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  3. Xian-Hua Lin
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Correspondence to He-Feng Huang .

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  1. The Key Laboratory of Reproductive Genetics, Zhejiang University, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China

    He-Feng Huang

  2. The Key Laboratory of Reproductive Genetics, Zhejiang University, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China

    Jian-Zhong Sheng

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Huang, HF., Jin, M., Lin, XH. (2014). Gamete/Embryo-Fetal Origins of Obesity. In: Huang, HF., Sheng, JZ. (eds) Gamete and Embryo-fetal Origins of Adult Diseases. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7772-9_7

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