Thirty years ago, malnutrition was the gravest food-related issue in Brazil. Today it is obesity and the diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and cancer that so often accompany it.
The Obesity and Comorbidities Research Center (OCRC) was created to combat this mounting problem of lifestyle disease. The center, which started five years ago with support from the São Paulo Research Foundation, brings together researchers from the State of São Paulo’s three public universities to increase and improve scientific production in all fields related to obesity.
Researchers at the OCRC advance the study of such areas as diabetes, nutrition, physical activity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer, hormone physiology, bioenergetics, drug chemistry and inflammation, with the hope of educating and training the next generation of academics. They also are working to develop new therapies for obesity and its associated diseases, as well as to disseminate knowledge about obesity risk and prevention.
After five years and with an annual budget of $1.5 million, the OCRC has produced an impressive number of scientific papers, graduate student trainings, research innovations and public dissemination programs. That expertise is almost certain to pave the way for more breakthroughs in the treatment and prevention of obesity in the years ahead.