Epigenetic impact of the social and physical environment on brain and body.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review and conceptual overview without primary experimental data or systematic review methodology
PubMed 31610853 · doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2019.07.005
What was done
This paper presents a narrative overview and conceptual synthesis of how social and physical environments shape individual biology and behavior through epigenetic mechanisms, focusing on the two-way interaction between the brain, endocrine system, immune system mediators, and the autonomic nervous system.
What was found
The abstract reports no empirical data, sample sizes, or quantitative findings. It conceptually describes linkages between systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, mental health disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Why it matters
It argues for precision medicine frameworks to integrate environmental influences and brain-body biological crosstalk rather than treating systemic and neuropsychiatric conditions in separate silos.
Limits
The work is a non-systematic narrative perspective presenting no new empirical data, quantitative meta-analysis, or formal risk-of-bias evaluation of the underlying literature.
Cited by
- context Bruce McEwen was the first researcher to investigate the relationship between the immune system and insulin resistance.