Authors of the Outreach book "The Weight of Obesity in the 21st Century" at radio program Foro Ciudadano

This past tuesday, María Paz Marzolo and Ada Cuevas spoke at the radio program about the book they just released, and explain the key points of this health condition, which affects over 4 million people in our country.

During the half-hour space which boasts thousands of listeners throught the country's fiteen regions, Dr. Marzolo, a researcher at the Joaquin V. Luco Center for Celular Regulation and Pathology, and Dr. Cuevas, an expert on obesity spoke about the condition and reflected on the contents of the book.

The publication is sponsored by one of UC's department of Biological Sciences' research centers. It covers in less than 80 pages the origin, diagnostic, associated nutritional and hormonal causes, prevention, and treatment of this condition, which has been qualified by the (World Health Organization) WHO as an epidemic, and affects around 300 million people worldwide.

The answer is in the environment

During the interview, the two experts emphasized that obesity is of genetic origin only in a few cases, because our genes are the same as those 50 years ago and obesity's prevalence among the population has increased considerably. Said increase cannot be explained solely through heredity, but rather through a changes in lifestyles.

Another topic was that of vulnerable groups, such as women and people of lower socio-economic level. "According to the research, this is due to a sociocultural factor, and the main problem is that obesity is associated to many diseases and these groups are the ones with the least access to treatment", explained Dr. Cuevas.

Finally, the two expertes noted that the most important factor when contemplating web loss is the motivation of the patients; it's the only factor that will allow the incorporation of changes through time.

Listen to the complete program at www.forociudadano.cl