Weight Balance
Sunday, February 10, 2008 by Tansa
Most individuals maintain body weight within a very small range of +- 1-2% over most of their lives. Body weight and energy balance are regulated by genetic and environmental influences. These control food intake, appetite, diet selection, absorption in the gut, energy expenditure and fat storage/breakdown. Integration of various signaling processes results in constant weight in normal circumstances. Any disturbance of this finely tuned energy balance results in a net increase or decrease of weight producing obesity (weight gain) or cachexia (weight loss).
The geographical description of obesity and cachexia highlights the disgraceful imbalance in food distribution. In the so-called developed world, obesity is the most common disease. In 1990, more than 30% of the United States populations were obese. In the United Kingdom, the prevalence of obesity has risen from 12.7% to 13.2% in men and from 15.0% to 16.0% in women between 1991 and 1994, and is continuing to rise. This is starkly contrasted to the developing world where the most common disease is malnutrition and starvation.
