One Third of American are obese, WHO estimated

One Third of American are obese, WHO estimated

Obesity is an abnormal increase in the amount of fat in our body, especially in the stomach area, intestines as well as in the tissue beneath skin. World Health Organization (WHO) defines "obesity" as BMI value equal to or greater than 30 while "overweight" equal to or more than 25. BMI (Body mass index) is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used in classifying obesity and overweight. It is defined as the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters (kg/m2).

According to World Health Statistics 2010 published by WHO, one third of the US adults (male: 31.1%, female: 33.2%) were obese for the period 2000-2009, the same as the last year's figures for the period 2000-2007. The percentages, however, increased for the UK: 24.0% for both male and female in 2000-2009 vs 22.3% and 23.0% respectively for male and female adults for the period 2000-2007.

The Report contains WHO's annual computation of data from its 193 Member States.

Countries with more than 50% of the adults aged above 15 being obese include Tonga (male: 56.1%, female: 74.9%), Cook Islands (male: 57.4%, female: 65.7%), Nauru (male: 50.3%, female: 56.0%), Tuvalu (female: 67.6%) and Kiribati (female: 58.9%).

Vietnam is the country with the lowest obesity rate with male being 0.3%, female 06%. Other Asian countries such as Japan (male: 2.9%, female: 3.3%), China (male: 2.4%, female: 3.4%), Thailand (male: 3.3%, female: 10.2%), Singapore (male: 6.7%, female: 4.7%) and Philippines (male: 3.0%, female: 5.7%) also had comparatively lower obesity rate. It appears that less people are obese in the Asian countries.

Obesity and overweight are the risk factors associated with increased mortality and morbidity. They can lead to many serious health problems such as heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and some cancers. For an obese person, because of less calories being consumed than taken into, a build-up of fatty deposits on the inner walls of the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart or brain can result in higher blood pressure pumping the blood to the organs. As more and more fats accumulate, eventually, it creates a blockage that prevents blood from flowing to the heart or brain. And heart attack and stroke occur. Also, in many cases, the occurrence of diabetes is the result of excess body weight.

Because of this, one third of American companies have introduced or are in the process of introducing incentives to encourage overweight staff to lose weight. For example, OhioHealth awards a maximum of US$500 to a staff who walks the most. But a research conducted by Cornell University showed that the result was not satisfactory as less than one pound was lost by an employee who took part in such activities.

Actually, you are what you eat. Taking a healthy diet together with doing exercises regularly and persistently are all needed to give the weight you want. One thing is important: do not eat more than what you need.

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