ABSTRACT
Increased prevalence of obesity in the world, especially ac-cumulation of abnormal amounts of visceral fat predisposesto insulin resistance, which is the central role of metabo-lic syndrome (MS). Obesity can deregulate the intracellularsignaling of insulin due to the production of inflammatorysubstances, chemoattractant proteins, adipokines and mo-lecules that trigger hormonal mediator potentials for des-tabilization of signal transduction, leading to metabolicdisorders such as hyperglycemia, hypertension, and dyslipi-demia. The complexity of the MS and of the genetic mecha-nisms involved in its etiology derives from the combinationof variants on genes involved and environmental factorsthat predispose it. The purpose of this paper is to review theeffects of obesity in molecular and biochemical responsesthat trigger insulin resistance and its relation to some candi-date genes and the ancestral component of the population.