Worried About Overeating During the Holidays? Timely Book Tackles Battle of the Bulge

What is obesity? How did we get this way? What can we do about it?

Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) November 23, 2008 -- A sampling of recent headlines calls attention to our ongoing obsession with overweight and obese individuals. To list a few: Child Obesity Seen As Warning of Heart Disease, Businesses Challenged to Fight Obesity, Healthy Town Tackles Obesity, Obesity Kills More Than 9000 Britons a Year. In response to these concerns, George A. Bray, M.D., professor at the Pennington Center at Louisiana State University, has compiled and written an exhaustive survey of obesity throughout the ages, from the Stone Age to today. Published by Dorrance Publishing of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bray's thoroughly referenced book, The Battle of the Bulge, A History of Obesity Research, uses significant, published, scientific papers to guide our understanding of the depth and breadth of this medical problem and insights into how to proceed with efforts to combat this epidemic.

In the Introduction to the book, the author states:

"We are bombarded, day after day, with headlines telling us that more and more people are becoming overweight and obese. We are told that we have an epidemic, that obesity is a worldwide problem with more than three hundred million people in trouble, that the costs of this problem can bankrupt health care systems by leading to more diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. What are we to do?"

In his effort to address that important question, Bray includes proof that this problem began in prehistoric times and continues in the present age. He discusses early attempts at the dilemma made by medical practitioners five hundred years ago. He highlights scientific research and theories that have shed light on this quandary from William Harvey to Darwin, Mendel, and Freud. Bray includes information from various scientific areas of study: anatomy: physiology, chemistry, medicine, biology, genetics, pharmacology, and neuroscience in his wide-ranging work. He provides examples of treatments and diets that have been tried throughout the ages and shows why fad diets are ultimately unsuccessful. Finally he discusses the use of drugs such as Fen/Phen and modern attempts at controlling weight through surgery.

Dr. Bray's credentials include membership in the American Association of the History of Medicine, the American Society for Nutrition, the American Medical Association, and the American Federation for Medical Research, to name just a few. He is also widely published, in books and articles, on the topic of obesity. In The Battle of the Bulge, A History of Obesity Research (Dorrance, 2007, paperback, 866 pages, $57.00, ISBN: 978-0-8059-7094-4), he calls upon and combines all his expertise in the various fields of his life's work to provide a thorough understanding of this serious issue that so many Americans and people throughout the world are fighting to overcome.

For more information, please contact the publisher, Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. at 1-800-788-7654, khaak@dorrancepublishing or visit http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dorrance+722mX2+/baofbuhiofob.html

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