Neuroendocrine Control of Food Intake.- Body Composition Assessment of Obesity.- Prevalence of Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome.- The Genetic Contribution to Obesity.- Etiology of Obesity: The Problem of Maintaining Energy Balance.- Current Views of the Fat Cell as an Endocrine Cell: Lipotoxicity.- Ectopic Fat and the Metabolic Syndrome.- Abdominal Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome.- The Problems of Childhood Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome.-...