Research on Obesity

With many Americans continuing to see health problems arise from obesity, research on obesity is becoming more aggressive. Medical professionals are focusing on all aspects of obesity. Discoveries are being made by our research on obesity that gives us more insight on factors of obesity that go even further than diet and exercise. However, diet and exercise is still the major weapon against obesity and research is continuing to give us an awful picture of what happens when we ignore these important parts of life.

Research on obesity first had to come up with a standard for determining the measurement for obesity. When are you considered obese? Though there are different methods for determining if one is obese, the standard most often is the body mass index. This is a number derived from your height and weight using a table. In certain cases this number can be off, but most people will find it very close.

One of the aspects that research on obesity is focusing on factors in addition to nutrition and diet that allow some individuals to retain more weight than others. In fact, researchers have found a genetic factor related to obesity or the tendency towards obesity. Basically, they have found the infamous “fat gene”.

In addition to physiological factors for the potential to gain weight, research on obesity has also found that economical, racial, and other factors can also affect your weight. In fact, people who are less educated, have less money, and certain minorities are more likely to become obese or suffer from the effects of obesity.

Though it is unlikely that there will ever be a magic pill that allows a person to loose weight or prevents them from gaining it, there may be medicine that can help. The existence of any helpful medication or information will likely come as a result of people working hard at research on obesity.