Childhood obesity is one of the serious public health challenges of the 21st century.
The fundamental cause of obesity is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and
calories expended. Palatability plays a key role in inducing hedonic hunger contributing to
overeating which increases energy intake and thereby contributes to the disruption of energy
balance (Lowe and Butryn, 2007). The prevalence of obesity has increased at an alarming rate
due to drastic changes in eating habits in the aftermath of modernization in the food industry such
as producing more processed, affordable, and effectively marketed food than ever before,
which provided easy access to palatable and high-calorie food (Swinburn et al., 2011).
Consumption of energy-dense palatable food in excess at a very early age results in
the development of early-onset obesity. Excessive weight gain in childhood likely paves the way to
lifelong obesity (Singh et al., 2008) thereby increasing the exposure to obesity over a longer
duration. The increased prevalence of childhood obesity leads to a coequal rise in the
prevalence of sustained obesity.