It is estimated that 285 million people live with diabetes worldwide, a number that is projected to grow to 438 million by 2030 [101]. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) accounts for 90% of global diabetes prevalence [102]. Although once thought to be an adult disease, T2DM has been diagnosed in morbidly obese children and adolescents in recent years [1]. The economic impact of diabetes is profoun...

Obesity is a global health concern associated with high morbidity and mortality. Therapeutic strategies include synthetic drugs and surgery, which may entail high costs and serious complications. Plant-based medicinal agents offer an alternative approach. A review of the studies on accessible botanical sources for the treatment of obesity is provided, which attempts to explain how these medicin...

Brown adipose tissue is distinguished by its unique capacity for uncoupled mitochondrial respiration, which is highly regulated by sympathetic nerve activity. Because of this, energy expenditure in brown fat is capable of ranging over many orders of magnitude. The fact that the function of brown adipose tissue is impaired in obese rodents and that transgenic mice with decreased brown fat develo...

Individuals with an upper-body form of obesity show greater associations with higher glucose excursions, exacerbated insulin resistance, increased abnormality of lipoprotein profile, and higher cardiovascular risk. Individuals with obesity and diabetes are at great risk for cardiovascular disease. Weight reduction and improvement in blood glucose control through dietary interventions for the ob...

Generally fatty liver disease (FLD) is attributed either to alcohol, diabetes mellitus, or obesity. To evaluate this commonly held clinical belief, a case-control study of FLD in Western Pennsylvania was conducted with 19 cases being identified over a two year period. Cases of FLD were significantly heavier and were significantly more likely than controls to have exposures to either agents with...

OBESITY frequently co-exists with hypertension (Epstein et al, 1965) and the combination carries a higher mortality than either obesity or hypertension alone (Kannell et al, 1967). Weight reduction per se may lower the blood pressure (Fletcher, 1954; Salzano et al, 1958) and is therefore an essential part of any therapeutic regime for obese hypertensives (Chiang et al 1967). The majority of obe...

The incidence of obesity and associated co-morbidities such as insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and cardiovascular diseases has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. As a result, new therapeutic options for the treatment of these conditions are clearly warranted. With the failure of leptin as anti-obesity therapy, recent research has focused on the gp130 receptor ligands, in particular CNTF, ...

Obesity is characterized by excess body fat accumulation due to an increase in the size and number of differentiated mature adipocytes. Adipocyte differentiation is regulated by genetic and environmental factors, and its inhibition could represent a strategy for obesity prevention and treatment. The current study was designed with two aims: (i) to evaluate the changes in the expression of adipo...

Background & Aim:   Changes in lifestyle, decrease in physical exercise along with incidence of obesity, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases indicate a need for low calorie formulations. The sweetness of Stevia, a natural sweetener, is estimated to be 300 times as much as that of sugar. Extraction of stevia leaves is considered a promoter of calorie balance and a beneficial part of a healt...

INTRODUCTION Rates of obesity pharmacotherapy use, bariatric surgery and intensive behavioural counselling have been extremely low. OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this study was to survey healthcare provider beliefs, practice and knowledge regarding obesity management. METHODS Primary care physicians (PCPs), OB-GYN physicians and nurse practitioners (NPs) responded to a web-based surve...