Obesity

Introduction

Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. A crude population measure of obesity is the body mass index (BMI), a person’s weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of his or her height (in meters). A person with a BMI of 30 or more is generally considered obese. A person with a BMI equal to or more than 25 is considered overweight.

Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Once considered a problem only in high income countries, overweight and obesity are now dramatically on the rise in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings.

Another definition from Wikipedia, obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have a negative effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. People are considered obese when their body mass index (BMI), a measurement obtained by dividing a person's weight by the square of the person's height, exceeds 30 kg/m2.

Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide, with increasing rates in adults and children. Authorities view it as one of the most seriouspublic health problems of the 21st century. Obesity is stigmatized in much of the modern world (particularly in the Western world), though it was widely seen as a symbol of wealth and fertility at other times in history, and still is in some parts of the world. In 2013, the American Medical Association classified obesity as a disease

Bibliography

I. (http://www.who.int/topics/obesity/en/)

II. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity)

Objectives

Nowadays, we have to face with many diseases affecting seriously our health such as HIV - AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis, asthma, diabetes, heart disease, polio, etc. Up to know, some of them have no cure. However, there is a preventable disease...