Obesity is a chronic disease characterized by increased accumulation of body fat. We evaluated the socioeconomic aspects, body composition, risk of metabolic complications associated with obesity, eating habits and lifestyle in both women and men adults and elderly with body mass index (BMI) > 40 kg/m². Among the subjects studied, 79% (n = 32) are female, 5% (n = 2) smokers, 39% (n = 16) use alcohol and only 24% (n = 10) are practitioners of physical exercise. The higher food intake was breads, followed by rice. The daily intake of fruits and vegetables is low. Positive correlation between consumption of sugar and BMI and abdominal circumference (AC) was observed. In summary, was found that morbidly obese patients that looking for nutritional counseling presents increased body fat, poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyle.

La obesidad es una enfermedad crónica caracterizada por una acumulación aumentada de grasa corporal. Evaluamos los aspectos socioeconómicos, la composición corporal, el riesgo de complicaciones metabólicas asociadas con la obesidad, los hábitos dietéticos y el estilo de vida en mujeres y hombres adultos y ancianos con un índice de masa corporal (IMC) > 40 kg/m². De entre los sujetos estudiados, el 79% (n = 32) eran mujeres, el 5% (n = 2) fumadores, el 39% (n = 16) consumía alcohol y sólo el 24% (n = 10) practicaba algún ejercicio físico. El mayor consumo de alimentos fue de pan seguido de arroz. El consumo diario de frutas y verduras fue bajo. Se observó una correlación positiva entre el consumo de azúcar y el IMC y la circunferencia abdominal (CA). En resumen, se halló que los pacientes con obesidad mórbida que buscan consejo nutricional presentan un aumento de la grasa corporal, hábitos alimenticios deficientes y un estilo de vida sedentario.

We examined the capacity of high-intensity intermittent training (HI-IT) to facilitate the delivery of lipids to enzymes responsible for oxidation, a task performed by the carnitine palmitoyl transferase (CPT) system in the rat gastrocnemius muscle. Male adult Wistar rats (160-250 g) were randomly distributed into 3 groups: sedentary (Sed, N = 5), HI-IT (N = 10), and moderate-intensity continuous training (MI-CT, N = 10). The trained groups were exercised for 8 weeks with a 10% (HI-IT) and a 5% (MI-CT) overload. The HI-IT group presented 11.8% decreased weight gain compared to the Sed group. The maximal activities of CPT-I, CPT-II, and citrate synthase were all increased in the HI-IT group compared to the Sed group (P < 0.01), as also was gene expression, measured by RT-PCR, of fatty acid binding protein (FABP; P < 0.01) and lipoprotein lipase (LPL; P < 0.05). Lactate dehydrogenase also presented a higher maximal activity (nmol·min-1·mg protein-1) in HI-IT (around 83%). We suggest that 8 weeks of HI-IT enhance mitochondrial lipid transport capacity thus facilitating the oxidation process in the gastrocnemius muscle. This adaptation may also be associated with the decrease in weight gain observed in the animals and was concomitant to a higher gene expression of both FABP and LPL in HI-IT, suggesting that intermittent exercise is a "time-efficient" strategy inducing metabolic adaptation.