Flávia Campos Corgosinho

1 Introduction The World Health Organization (WHO) defines obesity as a multifactorial disease associated with a complication affecting quality of life and reducing life expectancy [1]. The global prevalence of obesity in adults is increasing around the world. Recent studies have shown that both high-income and low- to middle-income countries are experiencing rises in obesity rates [2-4].

INTRODUCTION According to the World Health Organization (WHO),1 there are 39 million children under the age of 5 with overweight or obesity and 40 million children and adolescents 5–19 years of age with overweight or obesity. The etiology of obesity is multifaceted and a consequence of multiple factors.