Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: Pathogenic Mechanisms and Potential Benefits of Weight Reduction

The prevalence of obesity in industrialized countries has reached epidemic proportions, with about one in three people being obese and another one in three people being overweight and at risk of developing obesity. In recent years, obesity has gained the traditional tetrad of cardiovascular risk factors of smoking: hypertension, dyslipidemia, and dysglycemia. Attention has also focused on the importance of abdominal (or central) obesity as a …