Obesity is a worldwide pandemic, and the prevalence rate has doubled since the 1980s. Asian countries are also experiencing the global epidemic of obesity with its related health consequences. The prevalence of overweight and obesity are increasing at an alarming rate across all age groups in Asia. These increases are mainly attributed to rapid economic growth, which leads to socio-economic, nutrition and lifestyle transitions, resulting in a positive energy balance. In addition, fat mass and obesity-associated gene variants, copy number variants in chromosomes and epigenetic modifications have shown positive associations with the risk of obesity among Asians. In this review highlights of prevalence and related ecological and genetic factors that could influence the rapid rise in obesity among Asian populations are discussed.

Childhood obesity is a global epidemic, which leads to the increasing number of studies on genetic locations associated with obesity-related traits. Polymorphisms of insulin (INS) gene have been shown to be associated with obesity-related phenotypes in Europeans Obesiti kanak-kanak merupakan epidemik di seluruh dunia dan telah menyebabkan pertambahan kajian mengenai lokasi gen berkaitan dengan ciri-ciri obesiti. Polimorfisme gen insulin (INS) telah dikaitkan dengan fenotip obesiti dalam kalangan orang Eropah manakala gen reseptor insulin (INSR) berhubung kait dengan regulasi tenaga. Oleh itu, kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji hubungan antara polimorfisme gen INS (rs689) dan gen INSR (rs3745551) dengan risiko obesiti kanak-kanak dalam populasi Melayu. Kanak-kanak yang berumur 6-12 tahun dan mempunyai berat badan normal (528 orang) dan kanak-kanak yang mempunyai berat badan berlebihan atau obes (557 orang) digenotip dengan menggunakan Sequenom iPLEX® Gold yang bersemi-automasi. Indeks jisim badan dikira daripada ukuran berat badan dan ketinggian. Distribusi genotip rs689 (T/T: 0.006, A/T: 0.159 and A/A: 0.835) dan rs3745551 (G/G: 0.054, A/G: 0.378 and A/A: 0.568)