Abstract
BACKGROUND: This is an overview of the mechanisms of obesity and its relation to cardiovascular risks, describing the available treatment options to manage this condition. MAIN BODY: The pathogenesis of obesity includes the balance between calories consumed and energy expenditure followed by the maintenance of body weight. Diet, physical activity, environmental, behavioral and physiological factors are part of the complex process of weight loss, since there are several hormones and peptides involved in regulation of appetite, eating behavior and energy expenditure. The cardiovascular complications associated to obesity are also driven by processes involving hormones and peptides and which include inflammation, insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, coronary calcification, activation of coagulation, renin angiotensin or the sympathetic nervous systems. Pharmacological treatments are often needed to insure weight loss and weight maintenance as adjuncts to diet and physical activity in people with obesity and overweight patients. CONCLUSION: To accomplish satisfactory goals, patients and physicians seek for weight loss, weight maintenance and improvement of the risk factors associated to this condition, especially cardiovascular risk.