Obesity Prevention and Treatment

The prevalence of obesity in the United States and the rest of the industrialized world has skyrocketed in the past 20 years. Linked to heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome, it is also the leading cause of osteoarthritis and the second leading cause of cancer. With contributions from leading experts in the field, Obesity: Prevention and Treatment bridges the gap between emerging understanding of the pathophysiology of obesity with concrete clinical applications for physicians and other healthcare workers in all disciplines of medicine.

Following an overview of issues related to the prevention and management of obesity, the book discusses:

• Energy balance, the metabolic predictors of weight gain, and the role of adipokines, genetics, and the environment on obesity
• The epidemiology of obesity
• The identification and evaluation of the overweight patient as a guide to the selection of treatment
• Nutritional aspects of obesity treatment and management
• Exercise risks to which the obese patient may be more prone and steps that can be taken to mitigate these risks
• Behavior modification strategies for the obese patient
• The definition, assessment, consequences, and treatment of childhood obesity
• Drugs and surgical options for treatment
• The implications of public policy on the problem of obesity
• The significance of intra-abdominal and ectopic fat deposition in endocrine aspects of obesity

Currently, over two thirds of the adult population in the United States is either overweight or obese. With these grim statistics, it is critically important that clinicians from all branches of medicine play an active role in diagnosing and treating obesity and its related conditions. This volume arms clinicians with the information they need to create an appropriate prevention and treatment program for their patients.

The Modern Management of Obesity. Preventing and Managing Obesity: The Scope of the Problem. Pathophysiology of Obesity. Epidemiology of Obesity Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity. Nutritional Aspects of Obesity Management. Exercise Management of the Obese Patient. Behavioral Management of the Obese Patient. Managing Childhood Obesity. Drug Treatment of Obesity. Surgical Treatment of Obesity. Obesity and Health: Implications of Public Policy. Obesity and Specific Medical Conditions. Obesity and Heart Disease. Obesity and Diabetes. Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome. Obesity and Cancer. Obesity and Arthritis. Beyond Subcutaneous Fat. Index.

James M. Rippe, MD, is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School with postgraduate training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is currently the Founder and Director of the Rippe Lifestyle Institute (RLI), Associate Professor of Medicine (cardiology) at Tufts University School of Medicine, and Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Florida, where he also serves as the Chairman of the Center for Lifestyle Medicine. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Rippe has established and run the largest research organization (RLI) in the world, exploring how daily habits and actions impact short- and long-term health and quality of life. This organization has published hundreds of papers that form the scientific basis for the fields of lifestyle medicine and high-performance health. RLI also conducts numerous studies every year on nutrition and healthy weight management.

Theodore J. Angelopoulos