Obesity triggers high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and lipid abnormalities, leading on to such serious diseases as arteriosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, dementia, and diabetes. It would thus be fair to say that obesity truly is the prime culprit in lifestyle diseases. Remedying obesity is also a pressing issue in order to extend healthy life expectancy and curb medical expenses, but there was hitherto no effective means of combatting it. However, scientists have now shed light for the first time on the mechanism via which the numerous mitochondria in brown adipocytes mediate the activation of this type of adipose tissue and thereby encourage fat burning. Hopes are growing that this will be the trump card in tackling obesity.

The situation surrounding nutritional science is undergoing major changes. These changes are being driven by the imperative to create not only a sustainable society, but also an environment in which everyone can access a healthy, nutritionally balanced diet. In addition, nutritional science must address the increasingly complex nature of individual nutrition situations and the polarization between the segment of the population that takes care to eat a well-balanced diet and the segment that is becoming obese due to a high-calorie diet of low nutritional value. An approach to nutritional science suited to a new age is required.