Nutrition and Food Chemistry

Diet in Obesity and Underweight

Obesity is a growing concern because being overweight is widely regarded as a major risk factor for metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and premature death. Although the mechanisms for this weight gain have not been entirely elucidated, dietary factors may be important in the development of obesity. Diet consists of combinations of foods, and these individual components may have interactive or synergistic effects that make studying dietary factors in isolation difficult. Dietary patterns that represent a combination of foods may be more strongly associated with disease risk than an individual food and nutrient. Previous studies have reported that dietary patterns that are high in fruits, vegetables, and fibre might be associated with areduced risk of obesity.