Via practica 12/2006

OBESITY AND TYPE 2 DIABETES (DIABESITY) – TWO CLOSELY RELATED, PREVENTABLE DISEASES IS THE THERAPY OF OBESITY TOOL FOR PREVENTION OF METABOLIC SYNDROME AND TYPE 2 DIABETES?

A constant abundance of food and a sedentary lifestyle had led to an increasing prevalence of obesity in developed and also in developing countries (not only among adults, but also among children and adolescents). This has resulted in a serious public health problems as obesity, in particular the presence of excess abdominal (visceral) fat, is associated with a high risk of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is imperative to focus on trying to understand the etiology of obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes as well as the mechanisms underlying the developement of the complications associated with these conditions. It is also critically important to focus our public health efforts on the prevention and our clinical efforts on the treatment of these disesase states. Managing obesity by lifestyle changes alone has met with only limited success, so pharmacological intervention is often necessary to help patients reduce their cardiometabolic risk profile.

Keywords: visceral obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes type 2, endokanabinoids.