Obesity –“An excuse or a blame”

On a global scale, obesity has reached epidemic proportions and is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability. At the moment, more than one billion adults worldwide are overweight and at least 300 million of them are clinically obese. Obesity is a rising worldwide problem affecting both the developed countries as well as the developing nations. Obesity is common but complex and multifactorial disorder with higher heritability. Obesity results because of body fat accumulated over a time because of chronic energy imbalance that is calories consumed exceed calories expended. There are many genetic and environmental factors that influence this balance. Obesity is an important public health problem because it increases the risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and some type of cancers. The present article reviews role of genes that are identified in causing obesity.