Obesity

Obesity—now an epidemic in the U.S.—is characterized by excess body weight. Being obese significantly increases one's risk of death from hypertension, stroke, heart disease, and other conditions.

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Obesity is a condition of having excess body weight. When an adult is more than 100 pounds overweight, they are considered morbidly obese.

In the U.S., 97 million adults are overweight or obese. Being overweight significantly increases the risk of death from hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, stroke, osteoarthritis, coronary heart disease, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea and respiratory problems, and endometrial, breast, prostate and colon cancers. Obesity results in an approximate cost of $117 billion in the U.S.

Obesity has reached epic proportions. Rates of obesity have gone up from 12 to 20 percent of the population since 1991. This epidemic is not limited to adults: The percentage of young people who are overweight has more than doubled in the past 20 years. Sixteen percent of children and adolescents between 6 and 19 years old are considered overweight.

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