Obesity is increasing at an alarming rate

Obesity incidence increased at an alarming rate and is becoming a worldwide health problem, with incalculable social costs, in recent years. (1, 2)

Obesity is becoming one of the greatest threats to global health in this millennium, with more than 1 billion overweight adults and at least 300 million of them clinically obese. (3, 4, 5)

Obesity is a chronic disease caused by the complex interactions of genetic, dietary, lifestyle, and environmental factors, which favor a chronic positive energy balance, and lead to increased body fat mass. (6)

Obesity is considered to be a risk factor associated with the genesis or development of major chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, diabetes, osteoarthritis and some forms of cancer. (7,8)

Obesity in recent years is one of the main underlying causes of many chronic, degenerative diseases and some cancers.

Obesity has become a major public health problem and should be considered with not only medical aspects also the social and economic aspects. According to the data of the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity and obesity related diseases cause the death of over a million people worldwide each year. Science of nutrition has proven the effects of nutrition on human health and direct correlation between nutritional habits and the frequency of some diseases. Improvement of national nutrition policies about obesity is within the framework of responsibilities of the public organizations and food industry by considering the new approaches. Development and evaluation of new strategies about reducing the effects of fat and carbohydrates on weight gain are required to prevent or reduce obesity. (9)

References

1. C.I. Gamboa-Gómez, N.E. Rocha-Guzmán, J.A. Gallegos-Infante, M.R. MorenoJiménez, B.D. Vázquez-Cabral, R.F. González-Laredo, Review article: plants with potential use on obesity and its complications, EXCLI J. 14 (2015) 809–831 (ISSN 1611-2156).
2. J.W. Yun, Possible anti-obesity therapeutics from nature – a review, Phytochemistry 71 (2010) 14–15 (1625–1641).
3. Arbeeny, C. M. (2004). Addressing the unmet medical need for safe and effective
   weight loss therapies. Obesity Research, 12(8), 1191–1196.
4. Birari, R. B., & Bhutani, K. K. (2007). Pancreatic lipase inhibitors from natural
   sources: Unexplored potential. Drug Discovery Today, 12(19:20), 879–889.
5. Yun, J. W. (2010). Possible anti-obesity therapeutics from nature – A review. Phytochemistry, 71(14–15), 1625–1641.
6. Mohamed, G. A., Ibrahim, S. R. M., Elkhayat, E. S., & Dine, R. S. E. (2014). Natural anti-obesity agents. Bulletin of Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, 52, 269–284
7. Gu, Y., Hurst, W. J., Stuart, D. A., & Lambert, J. D. (2011). Inhibition of key digestive enzymes by cocoa extracts 1 and procyanidins. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 59(10), 5305–5311.
8. Tucci, S. A., Boyland, E. J., & Halford, J. C. G. (2010). The role of lipit and carbohydrate digestive enzyme inhibitors in the management of obesity: A review of current and emerging therapeutic agents. Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy, 3, 125–143
9. Ercan P., El S.N., Food components in preventing obesity. Academic Food Journal, A journal on Food Science & Technology, 2014, 12 (1): 69-77