Obesity

Obesity Obesity is a disease that affects at least 39 million Americans: more than one-quarter of all adults and about one in five children. Some people are more susceptible to obesity than others. Each year, obesity causes at least 300,000 excess deaths in the U.S. and costs the country more than $100 billion. Obesity is a chronic, metabolic disease caused by multiple and complex inherited and acquired factors, including excessive calorie and food intake, decreased physical activity, and genetic influences. The defining characteristic is excess body fat. Long-term treatment and management are required to achieve and sustain weight loss. Today more than 70 million Americans are overweight. Obesity, particularly when associated with unhealthy patterns of body fat distribution, results in 300,000 preventable deaths each year in the U.S. and $100 billion in health care costs. In the last ten years, the proportion of the population that is obese has increased from 25 percent obesity, fat, energy, body, factors, excess, disease, year, weight, results, person, percent, often, million, metabolic, least, intake, increases, improve, imbalance, genetic, each, distribution, decreased, deaths, costs, conditions, blood, billion, between, americans, 300000, $100, years, worsen, varies