Epidemiology of obesity

Common card · No. 448540

Obesity has been observed throughout human history. Many early depictions of the human form in art and sculpture appear obese. However, it was not until the 20th century that obesity became common — so much so that, in 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally recognized obesity as a global epidemic and estimated that the worldwide prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2, and in June 2013 the American Medical Association classified it as a disease. In countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), one child out of five is overweight or obese. Once considered a problem only of high-income countries, obesity rates are rising worldwide. In 2014, the mean BMI in 128 countries was above the threshold for overweight. Globally, there are now more people who are obese than who are underweight, a trend observed in every region over the world except parts of...

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