Related topics: body mass index
Obesity
hideObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy. Body mass index (BMI), which compares weight and height, is used to define a person as overweight (pre-obese) when their BMI is between 25 kg/m2 and 30 kg/m2 and obese when it is greater than 30 kg/m2.
Obesity is associated with many diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties during sleep, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis. Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive dietary calories, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility, though a limited number of cases are due solely to genetics, medical reasons or psychiatric illness.
The primary treatment for obesity is dieting and physical exercise. If this fails, anti-obesity drugs may be taken to reduce appetite or inhibit fat absorption. In severe cases, surgery is performed or an intragastric balloon is placed to reduce stomach volume and or bowel length, leading to earlier satiation and reduced ability to absorb nutrients from food.
Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide, with increasing prevalence in adults and children, and authorities view it as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century. Obesity is stigmatized in the modern Western world, though it has been perceived as a symbol of wealth and fertility at other times in history, and still is in many parts of Africa.
For more information about Obesity, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with obesity
Late-Night Snacks: Worse Than You Think
Sep 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Eat less, exercise more. Now there is new evidence to support adding another "must" to the weight-loss mantra: eat at the right time of day.
Type 2 Diabetes Rears Its Ugly Head Long Before Diagnosis
May 14, 2009 |
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Signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes can present themselves as long as 10 years before diagnosis and most people have no idea before the damage is done.
Genetically engineered mice don't get obese (w/Podcast)
May 07, 2009 |
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Obesity and gallstones often go hand in hand. But not in mice developed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Even when these mice eat high-fat diets, they don't get fat, but they do develop ...
Infant weight gain linked to childhood obesity
Mar 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- As childhood obesity continues its thirty-year advance from occasional curiosity to cultural epidemic, health care providers are struggling to find out why--and the reasons are many. Increasingly ...
Childhood obesity risk increased by newly-discovered genetic mutations
Jan 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Three new genetic variations that increase the risk of obesity are revealed in a new study, published today in the journal Nature Genetics. The authors suggest that if each acted independently, these ...
Good food nation: Researchers think America's obesity epidemic can be reversed via 'foodsheds'
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In the last three decades, childhood obesity in the United States has become a massive public-health problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control, between 1980 and 2006 the percentage ...
Mood improves on low-fat, but not low-carb, diet plan
Nov 09, 2009 |
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After one year, a low-calorie, low-fat diet appears more beneficial to dieters' mood than a low-carbohydrate plan with the same number of calories, according to a report in the November 9 issue of Archives of Internal Me ...
High fructose corn syrup: A recipe for hypertension
Oct 30, 2009 |
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A diet high in fructose increases the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San ...
Sugar cereals are 'Smart Choices'? FDA not so sure
Oct 21, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Ever wondered how that "Smart Choices" sticker wound up on the front of Froot Loops or Cocoa Puffs?
Strong link between obesity and depression
Oct 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Doctors should pay more attention to the link between common mental illness and obesity in patients because the two health problems are closely linked, according to researchers at the University of Adelaide.
Food habits of the poor unchanged by NY calories law: study
Oct 06, 2009 |
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A New York City law requiring restaurant chains to display calorie counts has not changed eating habits among poorer people, a study released Tuesday said.
New links among alcohol abuse, depression, obesity in young women found
Sep 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- There is new evidence that depression, obesity and alcohol abuse or dependency are interrelated conditions among young adult women but not men.
Researchers Explain Why Hunger Triggers Infertility
Sep 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have long known that calorie restriction increases longevity in animals but at an evolutionary cost - the animals become infertile.
Yes, that soda will make you fat
Sep 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- While health officials have long suspected the link between obesity and soda consumption, research released today provides the first scientific evidence of the potent role soda and other sugar-sweetened ...
Inner workings of molecular thermostat point to pathways to fight diabetes, obesity
Sep 11, 2009 |
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Best known as the oxygen-carrying component of hemoglobin, the protein that makes blood red, heme also plays a role in chemical detoxification and energy metabolism within the cell. Heme levels are tightly ...
