27780682_sThe causes of obesity have been recognized and are largely related to environmental susceptibility to gain weight due to increased energy intake and reduced energy expenditures as well as genetic predisposition. Contributors to the obesogenic environment since the 1980’s are the abundance of high-caloric density, low-quality food and under activity. All of this leads to increased body weight gain and a global public health problem. The environmental changes resulted from the unintended consequences of laws that created unregulated marketing and advertisements, food subsidies to a “food industrial complex” which manufactures obesogenic foods that foster addiction to its foodstuffs. The consequences of obesity lead to a chronic low-grade inflammation and an activation of the immune system and are involved in the development of obesity-related insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. One example of the change in the environment would include the progressive changes in lifestyle promoting pollution and including continuous exposure to xenobiotics (chemical substances that are foreign to the biological system such as pesticides) which lead to an epidemic progression of metabolic and endocrine diseases. The uncontrolled use of pesticides against enemies (insects, pests, parasites, rodents) also constitutes an important risk factor for metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes that frequently accompanies obesity. According to an article in the September, 2014 issue of the journal Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews, ‘The root causes of the epidemic of obesity are governmental policies and the food industry which make obesity difficult to escape in the US and now worldwide.’