Introduction - Obesity and Food Intake: Basic and Clinical Approaches

摘要

This introduction considers the current status of research on obesity and therapeutic strategies for it, including their relationships to the physiology of eating. Given the immense research effort currently targeting overweight and obesity, this summary is necessarily only a snapshot of a large and rapidly evolving area. It is nonetheless of immense importance since there is no sign that the obesity epidemic is abating, and because obesity per se carries so great a risk for numerous co-morbidities,such as type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), several cardiovascular disorders and certain cancers. The topic is at the heart of the theme of this volume, given that obesity cannot exist unless energy intake (i.e. eating) chronically surpasses energy expenditure and since tackling aspects of eating represents, at least at present, the more approachable limb of the energy equation. As noted below, even the most successful therapeutic method now available, gastric bypass surgery, ultimately owes its efficacy to reduced energy intake.