About unsuspected potential determinants of obesity

The positive energy balance underlying obesity is generally attributed to factors exerting a direct measurable impact on energy intake or expenditure. Thus, sedentariness and (or) excess caloric intake represent the "Big Two" factors on which almost all the attention of health professionals is devoted in preventive and therapeutic programs for obesity. However, recent research reveals that other more discrete factors can also promote a positive energy balance and body fat gain. Accordingly, this paper documents the effects of low micronutrient intake, short sleep duration, knowledge-based work, and organochlorine compounds on components of energy balance and body composition. These effects aid in the understanding as to why modernity accentuates the risk of obesity. Furthermore, they also suggest that body fat gain is not only a problem, but also a solution in maintaining body homeostasis, i.e., a state of optimal body functionality, in the context of modernity and globalization.