Author: Sarah Jones

Over the last few decades, obesity has become a worldwide epidemic. In the United States alone, one in three Americans is obese or overweight resulting in several adverse health effects including an increase in the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cancer, dementia, and depression. In addition to the negative health effects associated with obesity, excess weight gain causes a huge burden on healthcare costs ranging from about 147 billion to 210 billion dollars a year. Because of this, there has been great interest in identifying strategies that help promote and manage long-term weight loss goals. However, the most effective…