Obesity is a medical condition described as excess body weight in the form of fat. When accumulated, this fat can lead to severe health impairments. The prevalence of obesity across the world continues to rise, and this is now recognised as one of the most important public health problems facing the world today.
Obesity is a Disease
We support the definition of obesity as a chronic, relapsing disease. Please see below for our statement on why our scientific committee and policy experts hold this position.
During the past few decades, the prevalence rates of obesity [defined as body mass index (BMI) over 30 kg/m2] have been increasing at a rapid pace in both Western societies and the developing world (1), reaching 641 million adults being obese in 2014 [266 million men and 375 million women], compared to 105 million adults in 1975 [34 million men and 71 million women] (2). Notably, if this trend persists, the global obesity prevalence is predicted to rise to 18% in men and surpass 21% in women by 2025 (2). Overall, obesity can be considered a chronic relapsing and progressive disease (3) and a leading risk factor for global deaths. Furthermore, alarming trends of weight gain have also been documented for children and adolescents, undermining the present and future health status of the population (4-7). To highlight the related threat to public health, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared obesity a global epidemic, also stressing that in many cases it remains an under-recognized problem of the public health agenda
Depending on the degree and duration of weight gain, obesity can progressively cause and/or exacerbate a wide spectrum of co-morbidities, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease (CVD), liver dysfunction, respiratory and musculoskeletal disorders, sub-fertility, psychosocial problems, and certain types of cancer
