Childhood Obesity: New Paradigms on Susceptibility, Co-morbidities, and Interventions

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Preventive Nutrition

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Abstract

We are currently amid a worldwide epidemic of obesity. Obesity among children, adolescents, and adults has emerged as one of the most serious public health concerns in the twenty-first century. The growing prevalence of childhood obesity has serious consequences, leading to appearance of obesity-related comorbid disease entities at an early age and significantly contributing to increasing health care expenditure. Although the major causes for the increasing prevalence of obesity are excessive consumption of energy-dense foods and a sedentary lifestyle, it is now recognized that various genetic, physiological, and environmental predispositions constitute risk factors for the development of obesity and its related complications. This chapter will focus on current thoughts relating to susceptibility for development of obesity and on ongoing and possible future interventions for prevention and treatment of obesity in the pediatric age group.

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Correspondence to Esther Granot M.D., M.H.A. .

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Granot, E. (2015). Childhood Obesity: New Paradigms on Susceptibility, Co-morbidities, and Interventions. In: Bendich, A., Deckelbaum, R. (eds) Preventive Nutrition. Nutrition and Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22431-2_18

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