Antiobesity functional leads and targets for drug development

Abstract Obesity is the abnormal accumulation of fat in the body. It is an increasing global health challenge with health, social, and economic costs. Health risks associated with obesity include diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, and some types of cancer. The treatment/management of obesity has involved the use of dietary intervention alongside a few synthetic drugs, currently on the market, which is reported to have unpleasant side effects. For this reason, it is paramount to search for antiobesity drugs from synthetic and natural sources aimed at existing and/or new therapeutic targets. This chapter highlights a number of antiobesity lead compounds discovered from various classes of phytochemicals acting on identified therapeutic targets, which have been evaluated through preclinical and clinical studies in an attempt to develop them into antiobesity drugs, although most of them are yet to make it into the commercial market.