An invited commentary was published by BMBL in the Biophysical Journal on the potential of cellular mechanics and mechanobiology in prevention and management of obesity (Franz, Biophys J 2014. 106:1231-2).

The World Health Organization reports that over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women (more than 10% of the world's adult population) were obese in 2008. More than 40 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2011. Obesity and overweight is the fifth leading risk for global death. Along with developed countries, it affects increasingly low- and middle-income countries. In the latter, children are particularly susceptible to inadequate high-fat and high-sugar nutrition that combined with low levels of physical activity leads to a rapid increase in childhood obesity.

Latest findings by Shoham et al 2014 demonstrate the potential of future studies on mechanobiological mechanisms involved in adipogenesis and adipocyte dysfunction, combined with research such as on the biophysics and biology of intracellular lipid droplets, for the development of new approaches for the prevention and treatment of obesity and overweight.