Intro to Obesity 02:43
Obesity was classified as a disease by the AMA in 2013 and is considered an epidemic associated with or causing many diseases and disabilities within the US and Worldwide.
Individuals with obesity are at risk for a plethora of metabolic and cardiovascular complications as the accumulation of fat (subcutaneous and visceral) impacts the appropriate functioning of blood vessels, skeletal muscle, and organs.
Overweight and obesity are diagnosed when an individual has a Weight that exceeds the threshold criterion related to abnormal or excessive fat accumulation, especially around the waist. It is evaluated via BMI and while there may be some issues with using BMI as a metric, in this instance we are not talking about people with high muscle mass, rather, we are focused on those with high amounts of body fat.
- Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975.
- In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese.
- 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13% were obese.
- Most of the world's population live in countries where overweight and obesity kill more people than underweight.
- 39 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2020.
- Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016.
