Obesity

"Obesity" specifically refers to an excessive amount of body fat. "Overweight" refers to an excessive amount of body weight that includes muscle, bone, fat, and water. Most health care professionals agree that men with more than 25 percent body fat and women with more than 30 percent body fat are considered obese. These numbers should not be confused with the body mass index (BMI), which is more commonly used by health care professionals to determine the effect of body weight on the risk for some diseases.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults overweight - at least 300 million of them clinically obese. In the U.S. , a majority of adults are overweight or obese, with more than 30 percent of adults considered obese (Body Mass Index, or BMI, greater than 30). An increasing number of adults are considered extremely obese (BMI greater than or equal to 40).

In recent years, obesity has emerged as one of the most serious medical conditions affecting the developed world and has become a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability. It is now the second-leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.

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