Review

Obesity is a major global health problem that has been associated with highly occurring disorders such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, hyperinsulinemia, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis and certain types of cancer [1,2]. More than one billion adults worldwide are overweight, with ≥ 300 million clinically obese [3]. The epidemic of overweight and obesity, which is rising worldwide, inflicts not only a reduced quality of life and large healthcare-associated costs, but also an increased risk of death [4].

Trend analysis in relation to obesity suggests that in most countries the majority of the population is less active than they should be for maintaining good health, while they are simultaneously eating more than they need [5]. Weight gain is considered as a consequence of excessive energy intake as compared with energy expenditure, while successful weigh loss depends upon achieving negative energy balance [2]. In this context, environmental influences, such as an inactive lifestyle and the consumption of energy-dense diets, appear of overriding importance on excessive weight gain in addition to genetic predisposition [6].

Weight management in the obese may take into account the energy intake and the dietary macronutrient distribution.

A number of nutritional approaches and diets with different proportions of lipids, proteins and carbohydrates are being investigated, which may be energy restricted or prescribed [7,8]. Not only the different macronutrient composition is of interest, but also the micronutrient content and specific dietary components could also be important [9].

The prescription of nutritionally equilibrated low-energy diets is a common strategy for body-weight reduction [10].

Table 1. Influence of the different diets on weight loss [11,12]

Table 1: Influence of different diets on weight loss.

References