ABSTRACT
We are currently witnessing a worldwide pandemic of obesity, where there are approximately 700 million obese people worldwide and another 2 billion who are overweight, as defined by the World Health Organization. These categories are based on the body mass index (BMI) as an index of obesity, which is a measurement in meters squared of the relative percentages of fat and muscle mass in the human body measured in kilograms and then divided by height. According to the Public Health Surveillance Program (the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of outcome-specific data) from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) during the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States and rates remain high. More than one-third of US adults
(35.7%) and approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese. In 2008 alone, the medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight (as per the CDC). We are witnessing today more obese and overweight people on the planet than people suffering from malnutrition. Despite the great progress made in this field, our limited understanding of this condition has been disappointing. A better understanding of these mechanisms will help us to find novel therapeutic approaches for treating obesity.
