ABSTRACT
Obesity is a metabolic disease of worldwide occurrence and a serious public health problem, being a common form of malnutrition that contributes to the onset of various diseases (Repetto et al. 2003). The excessive accumulation of adipose tissue in obesity may be caused by endocrine, metabolic, or genetic changes, or by changes in energy expenditure factors due to reduced physical activity and increased food intake (Ali et al. 2004). Adipocytes in greater number and volume in obesity have functional aspects in metabolism and energy homeostasis (Rayalam et al. 2008). The central adiposity induces chronic systemic inammation by increasing the concentration of inammatory markers, which may be a risk for the onset of metabolic syndrome (MetS) (Duarte et al. 2003, Lee and Pratley 2005). Several adipokines are involved in systemic inammation such as resistin, adipsin, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1 and -6 (IL1 and IL6), plasminogen factor 1 (PAI-1), and angiotensinogen.
