Obesity and Weight Regulation

The last 12 months have shown once more that obesity and weight regulation are among the most interesting biomedical fields of science. The number of high-quality papers reflects the multiple research activities which now can be documented at many places around the world. The last 12 months have also demonstrated that different governments in Europe have taken over some responsibility of the obesity epidemic as demonstrated by the European Charter on counteracting obesity (www.iotf.org). The aim of the Charter is to address the growing challenge posed by the epidemic of obesity on health, economies and development. The Charter has been established by the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Counteracting Obesity (Istanbul, Turkey, November 15–17, 2006). It acknowledges that the prevalence of obesity has risen up to threefold in the last two decades. Half of all adults and 1 in 5 children in the WHO European Region are overweight. Of these, one third is already obese, and numbers are increasing fast. Overweight and obesity contribute to a large proportion of non-communicable diseases, shortening life expectancy and adversely affecting the quality of life. More than 1 million deaths in the Region annually are due to diseases related to excess body weight. The trend is particularly alarming in children and adolescents, thus passing the epidemic into adulthood and creating a growing health burden for the next generation. The annual rate of increase in the prevalence of childhood obesity has been rising steadily and is currently up to ten times higher than it was in 1970. This Charter will also help scientists and physicians to stimulate experimental and clinical studies as well as preventive activities in their countries. This Charter should be known by every ESPE member. For the yearbook selection this year, only articles published in journals with an impact factor of more than 4 were considered, assuming that relevant findings were published in these journals. The top findings of the last year lay within the areas of endocrinology of body weight regulation and endocrinology of the adipocyte. Two well-written reviews which are not included as an extensive summary are mentioned here: