Obesity

This book presents the latest advances in our understanding of the pathophysiologic basis that induces the chronic positive energy balance necessary to progressively store excessive amounts of fat mass. It highlights the clinical complications of obesity, while also focusing on the major scientific advances that have highlighted the role of genetics, adipose tissue endocrinology and the environment in the mechanisms and causes of obesity. Particular attention is given to the consequences of obesity, including an ever -increasing number of other diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, as well as conditions such as arthropathy, asthma, non-alcoholic liver disease, and dementia. Increasingly recognized uniting causes highlight the role of systemic, local and paracrine actions of adipocytokines in causing inflammation. As we come to better understand how hypothalamic control of energy balance is influenced by endocrine signaling from the gut and adipose tissue, it paves the way for new therapeutic targets and a resurgence of pharmacological and surgical approaches to treatment. 

Written by respected experts in the field, this volume is intended as a major reference source for endocrinologists, nutritionists, basic and clinical scientists alike.

Paolo Sbraccia, M.D, Ph.D. is a Professor of Internal Medicine at the Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata; Chief of the Internal Medicine Unit and Obesity Center (EASO accredited Collaborating Centre for Obesity Management) at the University Hospital Policlinico Tor Vergata; Director of the Specialization School in Internal Medicine; and Chairman of the Undergraduate Course in Dietetics. He was (2006-2010) a member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Diabetes Society (SID) and is currently President of the Italian Society of Obesity (SIO). In 2011, on behalf of the SIO he coordinated the Steering Committee for the Italian Guidelines for the Management of Obesity; and in 2016 he was editor of the book “Clinical Management of Overweight and Obesity, Recommendations of the Italian Society of Obesity (SIO). He is also a member of the “Scientific Advisory Group for Diabetes and Endocrinology” of the EMA (London). In 2009 he was appointed a member of the committee for the diagnostic and therapeutic appropriateness for obesity and diabetes by the Ministry of Health. He is a member of the Editorial Board of “Eating and Weight Disorders” and “Internal and Emergency Medicine” and ad hoc reviewer for various scientific journals (Diabetologia, Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews, Journal of Endocrinological Investigation, European Journal of Endocrinology, Clinical Endocrinology, Aging, PLoS One, Nutrition Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases). He is member of the following learned societies: Italian Society for the study of Obesity (SIO), Italian Diabetes Society (SID), Italian Endocrine Society (SIE), Italian Society of Internal Medicine (SIMI), Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis (SISA), European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO), European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), American Diabetes Association (ADA), The Endocrine Society, and the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO).

Professor Nicholas Finer is an honorary consultant Endocrinologist and Bariatric Physician at University College Hospital, London, and Honorary Professor at the National Centre for Cardiovascular Preventions and Outcomes within the Institute of Cardiovascular Science at University College London. A registered nutritionist, he is also an elected fellow of the US Obesity Society, the UK Association for Nutrition and the Royal College of Physicians. Finer chaired World Obesity - Clinical Care (formerly IASO EMTF) until 2016, and is past-chair of the UK Association for the Study of Obesity. He co-authored the 2013 Royal College of Physicians report ‘Action on obesity: comprehensive care for all’, and is a member of the UK Government Advisory Group on Obesity, the Clinical Reference Group that advises NHS England on commissioning of specialist obesity services, and the NICE Public Health Advisory Group. He has been awarded the Bisset Hawkins Medal 'for work in advancing sanitary science or in promoting public health' and a Rank Nutrition lectureship. Prof Finer is editor-in-chief of Clinical Obesity, reviews for many journals including Lancet, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, and Diabetologia, and has edited and contributed chapters to more than 20 books on obesity.