The loss in weight and body mass is driven by a metabolic disease manifested by increased energy consumption.

CNN: Is the inability of cancer patients to eat a concern?

The research is published in the journal Metabolic Brain Disease.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Smoking diseases alter the brain

Most of those causes stay relatively stable from year to year, but this year two underlying causes among adults are showing a significant increase since 2009-2010: cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorder.

FORBES: Why the Flu Is So Dangerous This Year, and Why It Could Get Worse

Pharming, a Dutch biotechnology firm, recently began clinical trials for alpha-glucosidase, a product designed to treat Pompe's disease, a metabolic disorder causing fatal degeneration of muscle.

ECONOMIST: Rare diseases: Safety in numbers | The

If drugmakers can find new drugs that can silence Syndrome X, also known as metabolic syndrome, they could deal a devastating blow to heart disease--and reap huge sales.

FORBES: Silencing "Syndrome X"

Amgen also has a partnership with Stockholm's Biovitrum to develop new drugs for the metabolic syndrome, a constellation of risk factors for diabetes and heart disease that has big drug firms salivating.

FORBES: Amgen (And Biotech) Are Growing Up

The market is even larger given the new appreciation for a condition called the metabolic syndrome, a hodgepodge of risk factors for diabetes and heart disease that is estimated to afflict some 50 million Americans.

FORBES: Lose Weight, Quit Smoking With One Pill

Forty-seven million Americans have metabolic syndrome, which means they have at least three risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

CNN: Red meat linked to higher metabolic syndrome risk

An impartial evaluation showed that hospital admission rates were 7.4% lower for cardiovascular disease, 13.2% lower for cancers and 20.7% lower for endocrine and metabolic diseases for highly engaged members.

FORBES: Time For Businesses To Trim The Fat: Ours