Obesity and comorbidities: advances in molecular mechanisms characterization involved in disturbances of food intake and energetic balance

• Grant number: 22/11914-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Program to Stimulate Scientific Vocations
• Start date: January 04, 2023
• End date: February 22, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Licio Augusto Velloso
• Grantee: Raquel Medeiros de Souza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Obesity affects 20% of the Brazilian population today. There are still 25% of Brazilians who are overweight and more than 15% of children and adolescents with obesity or overweight, which implies a projection of rapid growth in the prevalence of obesity in the next decade. Unfortunately, the behavioral and pharmacological approaches available have not been sufficient to prevent the disease from progressing. Likewise, the dissemination of information about the risks associated with obesity, namely, a greater chance of developing diabetes, arterial hypertension, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer, has not contributed to modifying behavioral patterns such as diet and sedentary lifestyle, which are the main environmental factors responsible for the emergence of new cases of the disease. Despite being a disease that results from the development of a positive energy balance, in which the patient has a food caloric intake that is persistently greater than the energy expenditure, the treatment of the disease based on behavioral approaches proved to be insufficient to reverse the frame satisfactorily. In the last two decades, scientific advances have revealed that during the development of obesity, structural and functional damage occurs in the neuron circuits that regulate hunger and energy expenditure. It is believed that advances in obesity prevention and treatment can be achieved through the development of pharmacological strategies capable of repairing damage to these neural circuits. The training of young scientists capable of developing studies that contribute to the characterization of the molecular and cellular disorders involved in the genesis of obesity should contribute in the future to the development of advances in the prevention and treatment of obesity and its comorbidities. (AU)