Calcium in Obesity and Related Diseases: The Calcium-Sensing Receptor as a Novel Mediator

As a major health problem worldwide, obesity is the focus of vast attention, and basic research has a key role in understanding the mechanisms leading to its deleterious health consequences. Studies in the past 15. years have addressed the hypothesis that deficient dietary calcium is associated with obesity and cardiometabolic risk. Among the mechanisms described in the pathophysiology of obesity and its comorbidities, calcium may be an overlooked relevant extracellular and intracellular factor. Emerging research also suggests that the calcium-sensing receptor is a promising mediator for many of the mechanisms linking calcium, obesity, and comorbidities. In this chapter, we discuss the calcium and obesity hypothesis and provide evidence supporting a role for the calcium-sensing receptor in obesity and its related diseases, the basics of cellular calcium handling, and processes in which this mineral regulates adipocyte function and pathogenesis.