Childhood obesity: potential mechanisms for the development of an epidemic.

Obesity is a complex condition with multifactor origin. However, incomplete knowledge of the ohysiopathological mechanisms responsible for excessive fat accumulation limits the efficacy of available treatment and prevention programs. The need to identify more targets for intervention has stimulated basic and clinical research in the field. In this chapter, several genetic and environmental risk factors of childhood obesity will be discussed as well as some potentially relevant metabolic mechanisms involved in the development of childhood obesity