EDITORIAL Lifting the Unbearable Weight of Morbid Obesity

As the incidence and prevalence of morbid obesity relentlessly continue to rise, so dothe personal, societal, and financial burdens associated with this chronic, multifaceted disease. The economic and technological progress achieved during the last century has resulted in unprecedented bounties of energy-dense food at an ever-decreasing cost to the consumer; factors that undoubtedly contributed to the development of the perfect storm of morbid obesity. The blustery winds of globalization and other market forces have helped spread the wildfire of morbid obesity to every corner of the planet, rendering it a worldwide pandemic. The World Health Organization reports that in 2005, 1.6 billion adults were overweight, of whom 400 million were considered obese. Furthermore, it issued predictions that in the year 2015, these numbers would rise to an alarming 2.3 billion overweight adults, including 700 million obese individuals.1 Children and adoles-cents are the most rapidly expanding segments of the population to be affected with obesity, representing a grim outlook for the future health and economic wellbeing of humankind. In the United States, at least 5 % of the population is morbidly obese. According to the Centers for Disease Control, an American dies every 90 seconds from an illness relate