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Obesity Information: Are You Obese?
Since the late 1980s, adult obesity has steadily increased in this
country. About 64 percent of Americans are overweight and more than
30 percent are obese. To help tackle what FDA is calling the "nation's
obesity epidemic," the agency released, on March 12, 2004,
the final report of its Obesity Working Group.
The group's long- and short-term proposals are based on the scientific
fact that weight control is mainly a function of caloric balance.
That is, calories in must equal calories out. So FDA is focusing
on "calories count" as the basis of its actions and the
message of its obesity campaign.
Americans are getting fatter. We're putting on the pounds at an
alarmingly rapid rate. And we're sacrificing our health for the
sake of super-sized portions, biggie drinks, and two-for-one value
meals, obesity researchers say.
More than 60 percent of U.S. adults are overweight, according to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And about
15 percent of children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are overweight.
Overweight refers to an excess of body weight, but not necessarily
body fat. Obesity means an excessively high proportion of body fat.
Health professionals use a measurement called body mass index (BMI)
to classify an adult's weight as healthy, overweight, or obese.
BMI describes body weight relative to height and is correlated with
total body fat content in most adults.
Obesity, once thought by many to be a moral failing, is now often
classified as a disease. The NHLBI calls it a complex chronic disease
involving social, behavioral, cultural, physiological, metabolic,
and genetic factors. Although experts may have different theories
on how and why people become overweight, they generally agree that
the key to losing weight is a simple message: Eat less and move
more. Your body needs to burn more calories than you take in.
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