In 2000, about 37,000 bariatric surgeries were performed in the U.S. In 2013, the numbers had risen to 220,000.
Scientists are working on a “flab jab,” or an obesity vaccine. The vaccine works by stimulating the immune system to attack a hormone that promotes slow metabolism and weight gain.
One of the early treatments for obesity, stereotactic surgery (e.g., psychosurgery) involved burning lesions into the hypothalamuses of people with “gross” obesity.
Yo-yo dieting has been linked to heart disease, insulin resistance, higher blood pressure, inflammation, and long-term weight gain.
Weight loss drugs first entered mainstream markets during the 1920s. Physicians would prescribe thyroid medication to healthy people to help them lose weight.
Studies show that if someone eats with an overweight friend, or if their waitress is overweight, they’ll eat more. However, a woman eating with a man will typically eat less.
Shopping while hungry makes people not only buy more food, it also makes them buy more junk food.
Female breasts are almost made up entirely of fat. This is why breasts tend to reduce in size before other parts of the body with weight loss.
Fat cells exist in all parts of the body except in the eyelids, parts of the esophagus, the groin, and the penis. Each fat cell can expand up to 10 times its normal size.
An average adult has about 50 billion fat cells, which means there are more fat cells in one person than there are people on earth.