Neurological Aspects of Weight Regulation........... page 1 Appetite Regulation and the Hypothalamus .......... page 2

With approximately two-thirds of adults in the United States characterized as overweight or obese, the condition of obesity is widely considered a public health epidemic. Obesity increases the risk of the development of conditions such as hypertension, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, osteoarthritis, coronary artery disease, stroke, and respiratory complications, as well as cancers of the breast, prostate, and colon (The Practical Guide, 2000). The etiology of obesity is multifactorial but can be abridged to accommodate two dominant categories: physiological and environmental elements. The physiological aspects of obesity include body metabolism, hormones, and the neurological components of appetite regulation. Environmental causes include the abundance of high calorie foods in the Western diet, as well as the prevalence of increasingly sedentary lifestyles due to technological advances