Genetic Variation of Fatty Acid Oxidation and Obesity, A Literature Review

Modulation of fat metabolism is an important component of the etiology of obesity as well as individual response to weight loss program. The influence of lipolysis process had receives many attentions in recent decades. Compared to that, fatty acid oxidation which occurred after lipolysis seems to be less exposed. There are limited publications on how fatty acid oxidation influences predisposition to obesity, especially the importance of genetic variations of fatty acid oxidation proteins on development of obesity. The aim of this review is to provide recent knowledge on how polymorphism of genes related fatty acid oxidation is obtained. Studies in human as well as animal model showed that disturbance of genes related fatty acid oxidation process gave impact on body weight and risks to obesity. Several polymorphisms on CD36, CPT, ACS and FABP had been shown to be related to obesity either by regulating enzymatic activity or directly influence fatty acid oxidation process.