ABSTRACT
The biological systems regulating food intake and energy expenditure in humans are concerned with energy deprivation rather than nutrient overload. These homeostatic systems formerly preventing starvation and sustaining the species have not adapted to the sedentary lifestyle, highcalorie, and high-fat diet prevalent these days, and now lead to a cluster of metabolic disorders at the interface of nutrition and systemic low-grade infl ammation such as obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) (Delzenne et al. 2011, Sacks and Path 2006). Excess weight and obesity are important issues for public health as not only are they preventable, but they are also the fi fth leading cause for global deaths. Each year, about 2.8 million people die as a result of being overweight or obese. In addition, 44% of DM, 23% of coronary artery disease and between 7% and 41% of certain cancer cases are attributed to overweight and obesity (WHO 2012, Allison et al. 1999). The prevalence of obesity has more than doubled during the last decades and has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. The estimated number of overweight adults has reached 1.4 billion as of 2008. Of these over 200 million men
University of Gaziantep, Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Biochemistry, 27310 Gaziantep, Turkey.
