For almost two decades, overweight and
obesity have been considered a serious
health problem worldwide (1). In Europe,
the prevalence of obesity increased by 10-
40% during the past 20 years, and currently
around 400 million adults are overweight
and almost 130 millions are obese
(2). The US demonstrated similar prevalence
and trends, with overweight and
obesitu prevalence rates increasing from
44.9% and 13.3% in the First National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
(NHANES I, 1960-1962) to 66.2% and
32.9% in the NHANES 2003-2004, respectively
(3).