Obesity is linked with excessive accumulation of fat tissue and with adverse effects on health. Type 2 diabetes has become one of the main lifestyle diseases and is one of the most common problems in everyday medical practice. Worldwide, in every 10 seconds it is diagnosed in two individuals and one person dies because of its complications. Depression is linked with chronic and sustained despondence, low self-esteem and loss of ability to feel pleasure. Osteoporosis is a chronic metabolic disease, which is characterized with decrease of bone mass and changes in the bone microarchitecture, leading to increased risk of fractures.

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The latest study from the United States of America and Polish studies confirm that the villagers are more at risk of obesity than city dwellers. The newest report published in the National Rural Health Association’s Fall 2012 Journal of Rural Health proved that Americans inhabiting rural areas are more obese than inhabiting the city. Place of residence can play an important role in the obesity epidemic. Read full text »

Obesity, which is pathological accumulation of body fat in an organism, is an affliction causing dysfunctions of proper body functioning and leads to development of additional diseases and chronic illnesses. According to present specialist knowledge, the prevalence of obesity influences also the mortality of a person. What if suddenly it turned out that obesity protects from premature death? Read full text »

Overweight and obesity have become a very big problem over the last two decades. This problem is so significant that the experts of the World Health Organization (WHO) have qualified the obesity as the civilisation disease of the 21st century [1].

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Obesity has become an epidemic of the modern world – a decrease in physical activity, improper diet and stress contribute to the ever-increasing number of people with a BMI over 30. WHO raises the alarm: the expected number of obese individuals in 2015 is said to be over 700 millions. For the first time over 10 years the FDA has approved a new slimming drug. Read full text »

Stress, problems at work, difficult life situation are almost indispensable elements of the modern world. The constant rush additionally increases the tension and makes it difficult or even impossible to relax or rest. For many people the food is the way to deal with this type of emotions. It improves mood because it stimulates production of endorphins (called hormones of happiness), in the body. It is natural and one of the easiest ways to improve mood. But sometimes improving mood by food gets out of control and becomes an obsession. Read full text »

As a consequence of an ongoing epidemic of obesity various methods of bariatric surgery are becoming popular. Many patients are recommended gastric bypass (GB), which seems to be the most commonly performed type of procedure and, at the same time, the most effective one. Despite the strong position of gastric bypass as the gold standard in weight loss surgery, mechanisms by which a maintained weight loss is achieved are not exactly understood. According to the new study (1) performed by Imperial College London scientists patients after gastric bypass choose low fat food products, not just because they are recommended to go on a diet, but as a result of an actual change in their food preferences. They simply stop eating high fat food. Read full text »

Bariatric operations are cost-effective not only for individuals with major obesity, but also in case of moderately obese patients. This conclusion was brought after summary of 170 studies, performed by the team from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, USA. Scientist suggest that anyone with a BMI above 30 kg/m2 should have an access to this kind of treatment. Read full text »

Obesity is one of the greatest threats to the XXI century. World Health Organization reports that since 1980 until doubled the number of obese people. In 2008, nearly 1.5 billion adults over 20 years of age were overweight. In this group, 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese. As many as 65% of the world’s population lives in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight. Obesity is now a big problem also in children. In 2010, nearly 43 million children under 5 years of age were overweight in the world. Read full text »

Scientists from the Weizmann Institute have added another element to the puzzle of obesity. They demonstrated how and why a specific protein, which is active in a small part of the brain, contributes to the increase of body weight. Publication regarding to this topic appeared in the Cell Metabolism journal. Read full text »