The recent discovery of a dysfunctional mutation of GPIHBP1 in a man with chylomicronemia implicates this protein in human physiology. GPIHBP1 can be placed in the larger context of other molecular participants in chylomicron docking and hydrolysis on microvascular endothelium, caloric delivery, and remnant lipoprotein generation. Critical questions include the regulation--and dysregulation--of...

Artificially-fed 6-week-old infants in the Sheffield region are heavier than would be predicted from their birth weights and show a greatly increased incidence of excessive weight gain. These findings are associated with caloric intakes that exceed the classic 50 calories/lb/day (110 calories/kg/day) with a universal tendency to early feeding with cereals and mixed infant foods.The possible har...

Obesity caused by excess feeding (overnutrition) has become a problem of epidemic proportions and is the underlying cause in metabolic disorders and chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Overnutrition is associated with systemic and tissue-related insulin resistance, an abnormality that promotes vascular disease as well as the development of diabetes (1,2). Thus, there i...

In this review, we attempt to deduce teleologically the physiological mission of leptin. Because overnutrition and diet-induced obesity are the only known causes of hyperleptinemia, we contrast the differences in overnutrition in normally leptinized rodents, in which the added lipids are confined to adipocytes, with those of unleptinized rodents, in which the added lipids are distributed in liv...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of referral to liver clinics, and its progressive form, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), can lead to cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. The main risk factors for NAFLD/NASH are the metabolic abnormalities commonly observed in metabolic syndrome: insulin resistance, visceral obesity, dyslipidemia and altered adipokine pr...

We have hypothesized that permanent changes caused by poor growth during early development due to maternal malnutrition may be exacerbated by overnutrition of offspring in later life. To test this hypothesis, rats were exposed to a maternal 20% protein diet or an isocaloric 8% protein diet during fetal and postnatal life. All offspring were weaned onto laboratory chow. At 6 wk, rats were fed la...

The fetal overnutrition hypothesis proposes that greater maternal adiposity results in increased obesity throughout life in the offspring. The authors examined the associations between parental prepregnancy body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height (m)(2)), based on height and weight reported by the mother at her first antenatal clinic visit, and offspring BMI (height and weight measured at age ...

n the twenty-first century, developing countries will have to cope with the transition from acute disease to acute plus chronic disease. The two main contributors to this trend are diet and activity levels, both of which are changing at historically rapid rates. This paper focuses on dietary changes. Where good data on food consumption are available, they show that the availability and intake o...

BACKGROUND/AIMS It has been hypothesized that the intrauterine environment is an independent factor in obesity development. If so, the maternal effect is likely to be a stronger influencing factor ('fetal overnutrition hypothesis'). We aimed to systematically evaluate the associations of offspring body mass index (BMI, or adiposity) with pre-pregnancy BMI (or adiposity) of the mother and the fa...