Obesity is a major public health problem leading to increased mortality and comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes (T2DM), metabolic syndrome, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancers, liver and gallbladder disease, sleep disorders and osteoarthritis.1 The World Health Organization defines overweight, obese and morbid obese in adults as body mass index (BMI) between 25 to 30 kg m−2, 30 to 40 kg m−2 and over 40 kg m−2, respectively. The prevalence of obesity in both adults and adolescents has been increasing in the past decades in the United States. In fact, obesity incidence has doubled in adults aged 20 years or older from 1980 to 2002.2,3
