Low-grade inflammation and its relation to obesity and chronic degenerative diseases

Overweight and obesity are two of the most important public health problems in Mexico. There is a clear association between lifestyle and obesity. This relationship means that unhealthy lifestyles can modify people's physiological response through adipocytokines, proinflammatory factors which are closely related to chronic degenerative diseases.

Obesity causes low-grade chronic inflammation. Adipose tissue, in addition to its function of storing energy reserves in the form of triglycerides, has important functions as an endocrine organ, producing a variety of molecules called adipocytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, IFNγ, TNFα, leptin and resistin. The production of these molecules by adipocytes, coupled with the destruction of these cells, induces the inflammation to become chronic, and influences other systems by altering their functions, which leads to different diseases. Understanding the relationship between the different components of lifestyle and the production of adipocytokines involved in the development of chronic degenerative diseases, will allow us to address the problem and hence reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by these diseases.