INTRODUCTION
What is obesity?
“At their most basic, the words “overweight” and “obesity” are ways to describe having too much body fat” (“Obesity Definition”).
The most commonly used measure of weight status today is the body mass index, or BMI (“Obesity Definition”).
“A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese” (“Obesity Definition”).
“BMI uses a simple calculation based on the ratio of someone’s height and weight (BMI = kg/m2). Decades of research have shown that BMI provides a good estimate of “fatness” and also correlates well with important health outcomes like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and overall mortality” (“Obesity Definition”).
Location
“Beyond North America, the regions of Europe, South and Central America, Western Pacific, and parts of Africa and Asia also have elevated
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“Less-developed countries have lower obesity, but in richer countries, there tends to be an inverse relationship between waistlines and bank accounts” (Thompson).
Origination of problem
“If a person eats more calories than he or she burns (metabolizes), the person gains weight (the body will store the excess energy as fat). If a person eats fewer calories than he or she metabolizes, he or she will lose weight” (Balentine).
CAUSES OF PROBLEM
“Therefore the most common causes of obesity are overeating and physical inactivity” (Balentine).
“The body stores these excess calories as body fat, and over time the extra pounds add up” (“Obesity Causes”).
STATISTICS AND DATA
Numbers affected
“Worldwide the rate of obesity has nearly doubled since 1980, with just over 200 million adult men and just under 300 million adult women obese” (“Obesity Trends”).
“Obesity rates have been steadily rising in children, too: In 2010, 43 million preschool children were overweight or obese, a 60 percent increase since 1990” (“Obesity Trends”).
“Globally, there are 1.5 billion adults who are either overweight or obese” (“Obesity