This review highlights the considerable advances in the understanding of the inheritance of fatness and the possible genetic mechanisms. The investigation of animal models confirms the fundamental importance of genes in determining fatness and demonstrates a genetic link between adipocyte function, derangements of steroid metabolism, insulin secretion and hypothalamic regulation. The heterogeneous nature of human obesity makes it unwise to extrapolate directly from the findings in animals but these findings do provide important clues to the situation in man. It is crucial that advances in the knowledge of genes involved in human obesity are paralleled by an understanding of gene-gene interactions and the influence of environmental factors. The rapidly increasing prevalence of obesity in society underlines the paramount influence of the environment.