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Endocrine Society statement addresses obesity mechanisms
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The Endocrine Society is calling on researchers to address the underlying mechanisms that make it difficult to maintain long-term weight loss in obesity, according to a scientific statement published in Endocrine Reviews.
According to a press release from the Endocrine Society, new research suggests that obesity is a disorder of the body’s energy balance systems: Once an individual loses weight, the amount of energy the body produces is reduced.
“Because of the body’s energy balance adjustment, most individuals who successfully lose weight struggle to maintain weight loss over time,” Michael W. Schwartz, MD, of the University of Washington in Seattle and the chair of the task force that authored the statement, said in a release. “To effectively treat obesity, we need to better understand the mechanisms that cause this phenomenon, and to devise interventions that specifically address them. Our therapeutic focus has traditionally been on achieving weight reduction. Most patients can do this; what they have the most trouble with is keeping the weight off. Health care providers and patients need to view this tendency as the body’s expected response to weight loss, rather than as a sign of a failed treatment regimen or noncompliance with treatment.”
The statement calls for more research regarding interactions between genetics, developmental influences and the environment; the effect of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on obesity; the microbiome’s interactions with the endocrine and digestive systems and brain; the success of bariatric surgery; the role of diet composition on obesity development; biological markers and predictors of comorbidities that develop with obesity; socioeconomic effects on obesity; and expansion of brain imaging to understand appetite and feeding behavior.
Disclosures: Schwartz reports receiving research funding and serving as a consultant to Novo Nordisk. Please see the full statement for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.