Testing the thrifty gene hypothesis: the Gly482Ser variant in PPARGC1Ais associated with BMI in Tongans

Myles, Sean; Lea, Rodney Arthur; Ohashi, Jun; Chambers, Geoffrey K.; Weiss, Joerg; Hardouin, Emilie A.; Engelken, Johannes; Macartney-Coxson, Donia; Eccles, David; Naka, Izumi; Kimura, Ryosuke; Inaoka, Tsukasa; Matsumura, Yasuhiro; Stoneking, Mark

doi:10.1186/1471-2350-12-10

Cited by 45 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The thrifty gene hypothesis has also been proposed as a plausible explanation for the increased body mass index observed in Polynesian populations. The findings suggest that certain genes remain a strong candidate thrifty gene in the Pacific (Myles et al, 2011). Although Neel's theory is significant to understanding of the evolutionary history of diabetes some recent study dispels the long held idea that indigenous people may have a specific gene that makes them more susceptible to diabetes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Race, regionality and pre-diabetes in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study

Lee¹,

Alexandrov²,

Howard³

et al. 2014

Preventive Medicine

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Objective To determine the association between race, region and pre-diabetes. Method The study used 2003–2007 United States baseline data from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study for this cross-sectional analysis. Participants in this study were 45 years or older at recruitment. Logistic regression was used to assess whether race and region are associated with pre-diabetes independent of demographics, socioeconomic factors and risk factors. Results Twenty-four percent of the study participants (n = 19,889) had pre-diabetes. The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for having pre-diabetes was 1.28 (1.19–1.36) for blacks relative to whites and 1.18 (1.10–1.26) for people living in the Stroke Belt region relative to the other parts of the United States. The odds of having pre-diabetes for Stroke Belt participants changed minimally after additional adjustment for race (OR = 1.20; 1.13–1.28), age and sex (OR = 1.24; 1.16–1.32), socioeconomic status (OR = 1.22; 1.15–1.31) and risk factors (OR = 1.26; 1.17–1.35). In the adjusted model, being black was independently associated with pre-diabetes (OR = 1.19; 1.10–1.28). Conclusion The prevalence of pre-diabetes was higher for both blacks and whites living in the Stroke Belt relative to living outside the Stroke Belt, and the prevalence of pre-diabetes was higher for blacks independent of region.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Race, regionality and pre-diabetes in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study

Lee¹,

Alexandrov²,

Howard³

et al. 2014

Preventive Medicine

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show abstract

“…A study lead by Myles et al (2011), suggested that the high frequency of the risk allele of the Gly482Ser variant in the PPARGC1A gene in Polynesians populations remains a thrifty allele in the Pacific populations. Another variant, the PC-1 Gln121, was also considered as a possible thrifty gene supported by studies in African and other groups (Rey et al 2012).…”

Section: Evolutionary Explanations For Obesitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Current review of genetics of human obesity: from molecular mechanisms to an evolutionary perspective

et al. 2015

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Although the prevalence of obesity is increasing in most countries, partially due to ubiquitous exposure to energy dense foods, not everyone exposed to the current obesogenic environment shows unhealthy weight gain. This suggests that there are marked differences in genetic factors that increase vulnerability for excess weight gain. Indeed, evidence suggests that 40 to 70% of variance in unhealthy weight gain can be attributed to individual genetic variations. Moreover, emerging data imply that genetic vulnerability factors interact with environment risk, which is referred to as an epigenetic process.Whereas most scholars consider obesity to be a disorder that results from the interaction between lifestyle and genetic factors, its origin is complex, poorly understood, and extent treatments are typically ineffective. Like any other aspect of science, our knowledge about the genetic basis of obesity is under constant revision. The current paper provides a review on the origins, mechanisms, evolutionary explanation, prevention and treatment based on genotyping.

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“…By far the great majority of such early islanders subsisted -in large or at least critical partfrom nearshore marine foods, generally obtained from shallow water shoreflats, lagoons or reefs (Szabó and Amesbury, 2011;Wing and Wing, 2001). Yet the history of human occupation of islands, particularly in more remote settings, is often marked by times of plenty and times of less, variations that can be linked to climatic fluctuations and the antiquity of which may be marked by the 'thrifty gene' in island populations (Myles et al, 2011).…”

Section: Vulnerabilities Of Island Societiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collapses of island societies from environmental forcing: Does history hold lessons for the future?

Nunn¹,

Carson²

2015

Global Environment

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Societies that develop on islands in oceans, distant from continental shores and one another, are unusually vulnerable to fundamental change (collapse). It is argued that a common cause of such change is the effect of external (climate-driven) environmental forcing on food resources, especially those on which coastal-dwelling island peoples invariably depend. Relative changes in sea level that were comparatively rapid are implicated in several instances of societal collapse on islands; two examples are discussed. The first refers to western tropical Pacific Island groups in which Early Period societies are distinctive, representing periods of human settlement beginning 3,500–2,800 years ago and undergoing major transformative change a few centuries later. The end of these Early Period societies appears to have been near-synchronous, an observation requiring an external and region-wide driver rather than local drivers. Sea-level fall, which began 4,000–3,000 years ago in this region, continued for some centuries and is considered to have dropped below a critical threshold about 2,570 years ago, abruptly reducing useful coastal bioproductivity and forcing the inhabitants of these islands to sharply reduce their dependence on coastal foods. Second is the effect of sea-level fall during the AD 1300 Event (approximately AD 1250–1350) that rapidly reduced coastal food availability and resulted in conflict that forced human groups throughout the higher islands of the tropical Pacific to abandon coastal settlements in favour of those in defensible locations inland, upslope and offshore. On lower islands (atolls), people made use of islands newly formed as a result of the sea-level fall during the ad 1300 Event, while some islands were abandoned by people altogether. External environmental change, particularly sea-level change, has demonstrated potential to force fundamental alterations to island societies and even cause their collapse. This situation remains the same in today’s more globalised island world, where some islands are likely to become uninhabitable within a few decades as a result of sea-level rise, while on others deleterious impacts on coastal food systems are likely to force coastal peoples to seek new ways of feeding themselves.

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Testing the thrifty gene hypothesis: the Gly482Ser variant in PPARGC1Ais associated with BMI in Tongans

Cited by 45 publications

References 51 publications

Race, regionality and pre-diabetes in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study

Race, regionality and pre-diabetes in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study

Current review of genetics of human obesity: from molecular mechanisms to an evolutionary perspective

Collapses of island societies from environmental forcing: Does history hold lessons for the future?

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