As society has evolved during the past decade, there have been significant increases in body weight in the United States, along with other developed countries. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey shows that 127 million people are overweight, which is described as having a body mass index (BMI) between 25 kg/m2 to 30 kg/m2, 60 million individuals are obese (BMI > 30 kg/m2), and 10 million people are morbidly obese (BMI > 40 kg/m2). About 325,000 people die annually due to obesity related disorders, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). Body weight is increasing due to many factors, particularly a lack of physical activity and unhealthy diets, which are producing increased incidence of Metabolic Syndrome, insulin resistance, diabetes and CVD (Esposito et al., 2006). Abdominal obesity can cause increases in cytokine release by fat tissue, leading to the previously mentioned disorders. Not only are adults suffering from obesity, but obesity in children is trending in the same direction. This has become quite a public health problem not only in the United States, but also in most European countries, with 20% of Southern, Central and Eastern European adults being obese. The Middle East has remarkably high obesity rates and is also the region, with the highest national prevalence of insulin resistance and type II diabetes in the world. Asian and African populations have also shown dramatic reductions in physical activity levels, as well as alterations in dietary intake adding to the already increasing obesity prevalence in developed countries (James, 2008).
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease that has a significant impact on the health, quality of life, and life expectancy of patients, as well as on the health care system. Exercise, diet, and weight control continue to be essential and effective means of improving glucose homeostasis. However, lifestyle management measures may be insufficient or patient compliance difficult, rendering conventional drug therapies (i.e., oral glucose-lowering agents and insulin injection) necessary in many patients. In addition to adverse effects, drug treatments are not always satisfactory in maintaining euglycemia and avoiding late stage diabetic complications. As an alternative approach, medicinal herbs with anti hyperglycemic activities are increasingly sought by diabetic patients and health care professionals. Commonly used herbs and other alternative therapies, less likely to have the side effects of conventional approaches for type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes mellitus is a serious chronic metabolic disorder that has a significant impact on the health, quality of life, and life expectancy of patients, as well as on the health care system. In the United States, diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death. 1 Diabetes is divided into two major categories: type 1 diabetes (formerly known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or IDDM) and type 2 diabetes (formerly known as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus or NIDDM). The overall prevalence of diabetes is approximately six percent of the population, of which 90 percent is type 2. Treatment and care of diabetes represents a substantial portion of the national health care expenditure, over $105 billion annually. This represents a substantial portion of the health care expenditure more than one of every 10 U. S. health care dollars and one of four Medicare dollars.
The alarming increase in obesity in recent decades constitutes a formidable public health challenge (Henry 2001). But the increasing weights of the population have implications beyond clinical impact of obesity for a public-health approach to prevention. This paper will argue that substantial reductions in the prevalence of obesity are more likely to come from structural and policy related changes to the environment than from medical interventions targeted to the individual.
