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About the journal - Obesity (www.obesityjounal.org) is the peer-reviewed, scientific journal of The Obesity Society.
Editors’ Choice 1 – What is Physical Activity’s Role in Preventing, Mitigating COVID (Perspective)
(accepted version online now at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.23269)
Title: Physical activity may mitigate COVID-19 infections in people with obesity: A call to action
Authors: Christina D. Economos, christina.economos@tufts.edu, William H. Dietz, Kathleen Tullie, and James F. Sallis
Editors’ Choice 2 – Transcriptional and Epigenetic Control of Adipocyte Remodeling (Invited Review)
(https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby. 23248 - Embargo lifts Nov. 23 at 3 a.m. ET)
Title: Transcriptional and epigenetic control of adipocyte remodeling during obesity
Authors: Serena Barilla, serena.barilla@ki.se, Eckardt Treuter, and Nicolas Venteclef, nicolas.venteclef@inserm.fr
Abstract
The rising prevalence of obesity over the past decades coincides with the rising awareness that a detailed understanding of both adipose tissue biology and obesity-associated remodeling is crucial for developing therapeutic and preventive strategies. Substantial progress has been made in identifying the signaling pathways and transcriptional networks that orchestrate alterations of adipocyte gene expression linked to diverse phenotypes. Owing to recent advances in epigenomics, we also gained a better appreciation for the fact that different environmental cues can epigenetically reprogram adipocyte fate and function, mainly by altering DNA methylation and histone modification patterns. Intriguingly, it appears that transcription factors and chromatin-modifying coregulator complexes are the key regulatory components that coordinate both signaling-induced transcriptional and epigenetic alterations in adipocytes. In this review, we summarize and discuss current molecular insights into how these alterations and the involved regulatory components trigger adipogenesis and adipose tissue remodeling in response to energy surplus.
Editors' Choice 3 – Dietary Fat in Lactating Mice and impact on Offspring Obesity
(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby. 23270 - Embargo lifts Nov. 23 at 3 a.m. ET)
Title: Impact of graded maternal dietary fat content on offspring susceptibility to high-fat diet in mice
Authors: Yi Huang, Jazmin Osorio Mendoza, Min Li, Zengguang Jin, Baoguo Li, Yingga Wu, Jacques Togo, and John R. Speakman, j.speakman@abdn.ac.uk
Abstract
Objective: Maternal high-fat diet (HFD) increases offspring obesity, yet the impacts of different levels of maternal dietary fat have seldom been addressed. In mice, the impact of graded maternal dietary fat on offspring adiposity and offspring’s later susceptibility to HFD were assessed.
Methods: Lactating mice were fed diets with graded fat content from 8.3% to 66.6%. One male and one female pup from each litter were weaned onto a low-fat diet for 15 weeks. HFD (41.7%) was then introduced to half of the offspring for 12 weeks.
Results: Offspring body weight and adiposity were positively related to maternal dietary fat content and were higher when mothers were exposed to HFD. The maternal diet effect was nonlinear and sex dependent. A maternal dietary fat of 41.7% and above exaggerated the offspring body weight gain in males but was not significant in females. Maternal 8.3% fat and 25% fat diets led to the highest daily energy expenditure and respiratory exchange ratio in offspring. Offspring fed a low-fat diet had higher daily energy expenditure and respiratory exchange ratio than those fed an HFD.
Conclusions: Increasing maternal dietary fat during lactation, and HFD in later life, had significant and interacting impacts on offspring obesity. Maternal diet had a bigger impact on male offspring. The effects of maternal dietary fat content were nonlinear.
Editors' Choice 4 – Association Between US Region of Residence and Children’s BMI
(online now at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.23235)
Title: Regional and sociodemographic differences in average BMI among US children in the ECHO program
Authors: Traci A. Bekelman, Dana Dabelea, Jody M. Ganiban, Andrew Law, Alexandra McGovern Reilly, Keri N. Althoff, Noel Mueller, Carlos A. Camargo Jr. , Cristiane S. Duarte, Anne L. Dunlop, Amy J. Elliott, Assiamira Ferrara, Diane R. Gold, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Tina Hartert, Alison E. Hipwell, Kathi Huddleston, Christine C. Johnson, Margaret R. Karagas, Catherine J. Karr, Gurjit K. Khurana Hershey, Leslie Leve, Somdat Mahabir, Cindy T. McEvoy, Jenae Neiderhiser, Emily Oken, Andrew Rundle, Sheela Sathyanarayana, Christine Turley, Frances A. Tylavsky, Sara E. Watson, Rosalind Wright, Mingyu Zhang, and Edward Zoratti, on behalf of program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)
Commentary also available from William H. Dietz, What can regional estimates of the prevalence of obesity tell us about what risk factors we should target? (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.23272)
Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the association of individual-level characteristics (sex, race/ethnicity, birth weight, maternal education) with child BMI within each US Census region and variation in child BMI by region.
Methods: This study used pooled data from 25 prospective cohort studies. Region of residence (Northeast, Midwest, South, West) was based on residential zip codes. Age-and sex-specific
BMI z scores were the outcome.
Results: The final sample included 14,313 children with 85,428 BMI measurements, 49% female and 51% non-Hispanic White. Males had a lower average BMI z score compared with females in the Midwest (β = −0.12, 95% CI: −0.19 to −0.05) and West (β = −0.12, 95% CI: −0.20 to −0.04). Compared with non-Hispanic White children, BMI z score was generally higher among children who were Hispanic and Black but not across all regions. Compared with the Northeast, average BMI z score was significantly higher in the Midwest (β = 0.09, 95% CI: 0.05-0.14) and lower in the South (β = −0.12, 95% CI: −0.16 to −0.08) and West (β = −0.14, 95% CI: −0.19 to −0.09) after adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and birth weight.
Conclusions: Region of residence was associated with child BMI z scores, even after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics. Understanding regional influences can inform targeted efforts to mitigate BMI-related disparities among children.