Obesity Quick Facts

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The present day’s most visible- yet most neglected- public health problems is Obesity. With over 400 million people suffering from obesity, it has been aptly termed as a global epidemic. It cuts across all age, gender, socioeconomic groups and economies.
What is obesity?
The WHO defines obesity as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health.

Quick Facts1
• The worldwide prevalence of obesity more than doubled between 1980 and 2014.
Worldwide over 400 million who suffer from obesity.

• 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2014, and 13% were obese.

• Childhood obesity is on a rise, 42 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2013
• Most of the world's population live in countries …show more content…

Apart from the physical distress and social stigma, an obese individual is also at a high risk of developing non communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, depression, sleep apnea, some cancers (eg, breast and prostate cancers) fatty liver disease, gall bladder disease, osteoarthritis and infertility.
What are the causes?
Human body has around 30 billion fat cells. As a response to weight gain, the fat cells start growing in size. With further increase, these cells aren’t able to contain the weight and number of fat cells start increasing.
• Energy imbalance: If calories consumed is greater than calories expended, it will result in weight gain.
• Genetics: An individual’s Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) i.e. the rate at which a person metabolizes food is determined by his genetic factors. A low BMR could be a possible reason for weight gain.
• Lifestyle Changes and Physical inactivity: Increasing sedentary lifestyle and usage of modern conveniences has been cited as a major reason for the obesity epidemic worldwide.
• Changes in food supply: There has been a global shift in diet towards increased intake and availability of energy-dense foods that are high in fat and sugars but low in vitamins, minerals and other essential

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