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CLINICAL REVIEW 28 A Biological Basis for Human Obesity^*

The Rockefeller University New York, New York 10021

Address requests for reprints to: Jules Hirsch, M.D., The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021-6399.

ACHIEVING and maintaining a slim, trim, look is high on our national wish list; for many years we have known that obesity is both unsightly and unhealthy. What is new is an increased urgency "to do something about it." The public and enterprising commercial interests are ever more intently scanning the horizon for new and better treatments. At any moment, 50% of American women and 25% of men are on a diet (1). Even the government has become concerned. Hearings last September before the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives heard testimony indicating that the treatment of obesity in America is anything but small business. Commercially promoted treatments generate more than 30 billion dollars a year in gross earnings, roughly 1000-fold more than the national expenditure for research on obesity. Perhaps as a result of the hearings, various governmental agencies are preparing to do battle. Thus, the

^* Supported in part by Grants DK-30583 and GCRC-RR-00102 from NIH.

Received July 22, 1991.