Nutritional genomics in the Mexican population. An approach to prevent the development of obesity-associated metabolic diseases.

Abstract

Obesity is characterized by excess body fat, metabolic dysfunction, and an increased risk of developing other chronic diseases. This review aims to describe the main molecular mechanisms involved in metabolic diseases associated with obesity and to highlight the most recent studies on Nutritional Genomics in the Mexican population. The findings show that in Mexico, multiple observational and experimental investigations have been carried out on the gene-nutrient interaction, and its effect on human health. Changes in the eating pattern towards obesogenic diets and the presence of certain genetic variants can predispose to developing obesity and other disorders. These genetic variants could have a differential impact on each ethnicity; some of them have been identified in Caucasian populations, and they have subsequently been analyzed in the Mexican population (e.g., CAPN10, apolipoproteins, and PPARs). On the contrary, there are genetic variants that are more frequent (almost exclusive) to the Mexican population, and that have been consistently associated with metabolic alterations. For example, the rs9282541-ABCA1 variant associated with lower HDL-C concentrations. These findings highlight the importance of studying these genetic variants in different populations, to establish better strategies for the prevention, prognosis and treatment of metabolic diseases.