This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on ISI (1)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Obesity  • Alert me on articles by topic

M. J. Friedrich

JAMA. 2006;296:1577-1579.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Boston—Because obesity takes such a toll on human health—it's a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer—health care professionals are eager to find new therapies and helpful diets to curb both hunger and the expanding waistline.

(Photo credit: iStockphoto.com)

To this end, researchers need to better understand how the body regulates weight and how energy balance mechanisms can go awry, said obesity experts who discussed strategies to counter obesity at a symposium during the Endocrine Society's 2006 annual meeting.

"We really have to focus on these fundamental physiological systems involved in energy homeostasis if we can expect to have any success against obesity and metabolic syndrome," said Kevin Niswender, MD, PhD, of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn.

NOVEL TARGETS

A greater understanding of the energy homeostatic system, which balances energy intake and energy expenditure to promote the . . . [Full Text of this Article]