Includes bibliographical references and index.

Classification and evaluation of the overweight patient -- Waist girth: a critical evaluation of usefulness -- Genetic evaluation of obese patients -- Cultural differences as influences on approaches to obesity treatment -- Bias, discrimination, and obesity -- Impact of voluntary weight loss on morbidity and mortality -- Weight cycling as an instance of false hope -- Obesity and the primary care physician -- The prevention of obesity in childhood and adolescence -- Prevention of obesity -- Analyzing and influencing obesogenic environments -- Reengineering the built environment: schools, worksites, neighborhoods, and parks -- Agriculture and the food industry's role in America's weight pandemic -- Behavioral approaches to the treatment of obesity -- Preventing weight regain after weight loss -- Diet composition and weight loss -- Exercise and weight management -- Sibutramine in the management of obesity -- Drugs that modify fat absorption and alter metabolism -- Cannabinoid receptor antagonists as potential antiobesity agents -- Integrated neurohormonal approach to the treatment of obesity: the amylin agonist pramlintide and its interactions with leptin and PYY signaling pathways -- Neuropeptide Y in the management of obesity -- Serotonin receptor modulation in the treatment of obesity -- Melanocortin-4 receptor as a new target for drug development -- Histamine Hb3s receptor antagonists in the treatment of obesity -- Drugs with thermogenic properties -- Strategies to reduce calories in food -- Herbal and alternative approaches to obesity -- Is there a future for gene therapy in obesity? -- Prevention and management of dyslipidemia and the metabolic syndrome in obese patients -- Surgical treatment and comorbidities -- Swedish obese subjects: a review of results from a prospective controlled intervention trial -- Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding -- Evolving surgical therapy for obesity -- Liposuction and obesity -- Obesity and binge eating disorder -- Special issues in treatment of pediatic obesity -- Weight loss clinics: range of capabilities, benefits, risks, and costs -- Economic aspects of obesity -- Government's evolving role: nutrition, education, regulation, monitoring, and research.