Obesity is a common health problem characterized by a high percentage of body fat. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. There are numerous ways to classify a person’s health in relation to their weight, but the most commonly used method is body mass index (BMI).
Obesity among adults has increased significantly over the last 20 years. Obesity affects one-third of all adults in the United States aged 20 and up, according to data. Obesity remains a common, serious, and expensive disease. Scientists discuss the various theories that explain why obesity continues to rise despite best efforts to control weight gain in this environment, such as increased availability and marketing of high-calorie and high-glycemic-index foods and drinks, larger food portions, leisure time physical activities being replaced with sedentary activities such as watching television and using electronic devices, insufficient sleep, and the use of medications that increase weight gain.
Obesity among adults has increased significantly in the 20 years since Barbara Corkey, PhD, was named Editor in Chief of the journal Obesity. Obesity affects one-third of U.S. adults aged 20 and up, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Obesity remains a common, serious, and expensive disease.
We believe that recognizing obesity as a disease and earlier diagnosis of diabetes and other obesity-related consequences will support earlier and more effective treatment and prevention. Most importantly, disease recognition will help to support insurance coverage of effective obesity treatments.
Barbara Corkey
Corkey discusses the many different theories explaining why obesity continues to rise despite best efforts to control weight gain in this environment in an editorial in Obesity, including increased availability and marketing of high-calorie and high-glycemic-index foods and drinks, larger food portions, leisure time physical activities being replaced with sedentary activities such as watching television and using electronic devices, inadequate sleep, and use of tobacco.
According to Corkey, all of these purported explanations assume an environmental cause that is detrimental to the organism involved, (humans). “However, if we use the principle of symbiosis and Darwin’s theory of evolution, perhaps we can understand obesity prevalence as an interim stage in the evolution of man reacting to his environment in order to gain long-term survival and ultimate longevity,” says corresponding author Corkey, professor emeritus of medicine and biochemistry at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.
Humans have devised a method to feed the world’s billions of people by developing processed foods with preservatives and other chemicals that can make food last longer and can be manufactured cheaply to increase calorie density in small packages. According to Corkey, people who become obese store body fat in response to excess calories. “As a result, the cause of obesity has as much to do with the human response to overfeeding as it does with the production of foods that are overfed,” she claims.
Corkey notes that key developments in the obesity/diabetes field include bariatric surgery as well as multiple agents (drugs) with different mechanisms of action to treat obesity and prevent weight regain. “Novel drug combinations are beginning to close the gap with bariatric surgery and appear to be very powerful new tools to treat obesity as a disease.”
Corkey believes that recognizing obesity as a disease and earlier diagnosis of diabetes and other obesity-related consequences will support earlier and more effective treatment and prevention. “Most importantly, disease recognition will help to support insurance coverage of effective obesity treatments,” she adds.
Finally, Corkey examines culinary medicine as an emerging evidence-based field that combines nutrition and culinary knowledge and skills to assist patients in maintaining health and preventing and treating food-related disease by selecting high-quality, healthy food in conjunction with appropriate medical care. “Culinary medicine has the advantage of being an intervention that can be implemented at the earliest point in the development of obesity with no negative side effects,” says Corkey.
