The Management of Obesity: An Overview

Obesity is this century's epidemic, and results from weight gain due to calorie intake in excess of energy expenditure over a prolonged period. This chapter reviews the most common forms of obesity management, focusing on hypocaloric diets, pharmacologic agents, and endoscopic and surgical approaches to the management of obesity. To understand the current approaches to the management of obesity, we review the therapeutic targets in the brain-gut axis, including the mechanisms involved in satiation and appetite centrally and in the gastrointestinal tract. While bariatric surgery remains the most effective treatment for obesity, it appears that interventional therapy by endoscopy, as well as personalized drug therapy based on gastrointestinal and behavioral traits, constitute alternative approaches that have the potential to impact the obesity epidemic.