Abstract

Obesity is a major global epidemic involving children and adults. According to the World Health Organization, obesity incidence will continue to rise with global estimations reaching 700 million by 2015. Thus, it is essential to investigate the nature of the obesity epidemic and potential mitigating mechanisms. In this chapter, we explore the association between obesity and inflammation and the efficacy of biochemical mimetics such a ghrelin and leptin for exercise and diet in the control of obesity-induced inflammation. We also review non-pharmaceutical obesity interventions and non-invasive means for predicting metabolic syndrome development as well as methods of obesity assessment.