Autism and Obesity: Prevalence, Molecular Basis and Potential Therapies

Studies in the past have suggested that autistic children are at higher risk of developing obesity as compared to the general population. Not enough research has been done to examine the co-existence of obesity in children with autism spectrum disorders. Although studies have attempted to define the prevalence of obesity in autism, none of these studies have explained the molecular basis of this overlap. In this review, we summarize not only the previous investigations related to autism and obesity but also present a systematic biology oriented pathway based analysis. We hypothesize that defining the common molecular gene targets as well as shared pathways between autism and obesity could be the key to develop therapies for individuals who present phenotype of autism as well as obesity.