Effects of Fisetin on Fat Accumulation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Obesity, as characterized by The World Health Organization (WHO) considers a person with a BMI of ≥ 30 kg/m2 as medically obese. The prevalence of obesity was 39.8% and affected about 93.3million of US adults in 2015~2016. Obesity related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer that are some of the leading causes of preventable, premature death. Obesity and being overweight are associated with an increased incidence of hypertension, stroke, dyslipidemia, osteoarthritis, and some cancers. It has also been suspected that obesity may be involved in causing a chronic and systemic inflammatory response that triggers metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

In addition to its serious health consequences, obesity has real economic costs that affect all of us. In 2017, the estimated annual health care costs of obesity-related illness are $190.2 billion which is 21% of annual medical spending in the United States. In addition to growing health care costs attributed to obesity, the nation will incur higher costs for disability and unemployment benefits. Businesses in the US are losing $4.3 billion annually due to obesity-related job absentee. As of 2020, no decreases in obesity have been reported, making obesity and overweight a still a highly relevant issue in the United States.

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