ABSTRACT
The question as to whether obesity is a disease has been vigorously debated over the past two decades. Acute diseases such as pneumonia and injury are usually curable and may not recur once healed. On the other hand, chronic diseases such as hypertension and obesity may go into remission and have undulating courses, but of long duration. Obesity is a chronic disease, whether it is judged from the standpoint of personal suffering endured by affected individuals or by the cost to public health systems and societies. Obesity results from chronic disruption of the energy balance. The long-term balance between energy intake and energy expenditure primarily determines the amount of energy stored in the body. When energy intake chronically exceeds energy expenditure,
the resulting imbalance causes expansion of fat cells and, in some cases, increased numbers of fat cells. Hypertrophy and hyperplasia of fat cells represent the one and unique pathology of obesity The enlarged fat cells are then likely to induce other metabolic disturbances leading eventually to other chronic diseases.
