Obesity, Adipose Tissue, Inflammation and Update on Obesity Management

Obesity can be defined as an excess of body fat. Its clinical management is complex and frequently unsuccessful [4]. A surrogate marker for body fat content is the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is widely used both for epidemiological studies and clinical evaluations [5]. Among children and adolescents age and gender cut-off values should be used [6]. A better way to define obesity should be in terms of Body Fat Percentage (BF%) that can be measured by different techniques, from skin-fold measurements to magnetic resonance [7]. Other frequently used methods for determining BF% include Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA), and Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA), underwater weighing and Air Displacement Plethysmography (ADP). When BF% determination is not available, BMI is the most frequently used surrogate measure of adiposity. However, BMI exhibits notable inaccuracies not precisely reflecting body fat, for instance, the changes in body composition in the different periods of life or the sexual dimorphism characteristics of body adiposity [8]. Since the possibility of measuring BF% is not always available and the relation between BMI and BF% is highly dependent on sex and age, several prediction equations that account for sex and/or age have been published. Recently new predictive equations that may be used as a first screening tool in clinical practice have been published [9].