OBESITY

Overweight and obesity are clinically defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. A body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 is obese, over 40 is considered extreme obesity.

Overweight and obesity occur when excess fat accumulation increases risk for adverse health outcomes. Like other chronic diseases, this definition does not require manifestation of an obesity-related complication, simply that the risk for comorbid conditions – including hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease – is increased. This allows for implementation of weight management strategies targeting treatment and prevention of these related conditions.

Unwanted weight gain leading to overweight, and obesity – itself considered a chronic disease – has become a key driver of the global rise in chronic, non-communicable diseases and the corresponding increase of global socio-economic burden for society.

Obesity is one side of the double burden of malnutrition, and today more people are obese than underweight in every region except sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. If current trends continue, more children and adolescents will be obese than moderately or severely underweight by 2022, according to a new study led by Imperial College London and WHO.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported, approximately 1.9 billion adults (18 years and older) worldwide were overweight, and of these, more than 648 million were obese (2021). More than 1 billion people worldwide are obese – 650 million adults, 340 million adolescents and 39 million children (2021). This number is still increasing, and doubling the numbers of global diabetes pandemic.

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. The vast majority of overweight or obese children live in developing countries, where the rate of increase has been more than 30% higher than that of developed countries.

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 42.5% of adults in the United States in 2018 had obesity and about 31% had overweight.