ABSTRACT
ANITA MORANDI, DAVID MEYRE, STÉPHANE LOBBENS, KEN KLEINMAN, MARIKA KAAKINEN, SHERYL L. RIFAS-SHIMAN, VINCENT VATIN, STEFAN GAGET, ANNELI POUTA, ANNA-LIISA HARTIKAINEN, JAANA LAITINEN, AIMO RUOKONEN, SHIKTA DAS, ANOKHI ALI KHAN, PAUL ELLIOTT, CLAUDIO MAFFEIS, MATTHEW W. GILLMAN, MARJO-RIITTA JÄRVELIN, and PHILIPPE FROGUEL
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity, which are leading causes of early type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, have become major public health problems both in westernized and more recently in developing countries [1]. Traditional approaches for the management of overweight and obesity have had poor long term efficacy and therefore prevention is currently the most promising strategy for controlling the obesity epidemic [1].
