Obesity

• "Obesity" is a condition of excess body fat, which puts a person at increased risk for developing heart disease, Type II diabetes, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure and asthma.
  
  
• Obesity is the result of the body's inability to balance calorie intake and energy expenditure.
  
  
• 55% of all adult Americans - 100 million people - are overweight.
  
  
• One out of three adult Americans is obese.
  
  
• In the next 10 years, 70 to 80 percent of all heart disease deaths will occur in people with Type II diabetes, a condition I call "diabesity" since Type II diabetes is so frequently associated with obesity. In fact, obesity is the number one cause of Type II diabetes.
  
  
• Half of all cases of hypertension are attributed to obesity.
  
  
• Obesity can be evaluated several ways:
  
  
1. A measurement called body mass index (BMI). BMI is a simple calculation based on height and weight.  A person is considered overweight if their BMI > 25 and obese if their BMI > 30.  To calculate your BMI, multiply weight in pounds by 704.5 and divide this number by height in inches squared or click here www.4Meridia.com for an easy-to-use BMI calculator.
2. Measuring total waist circumference. A waist circumference more than 40 inches in men and more than 35 inches in women signifies increased risk in those with a BMI of greater than 25.
3. Consideration of other disease risk factors associated with obesity (e.g., diabetes and hypertension). 

• An estimated 97 million Americans (55 percent of the U.S. population) are overweight or obese -- 59 million are overweight and 38 million are obese.
  
  
• Over the past 20 years, the number of children who are overweight has increased by more than 50 percent. The number of obese children has nearly doubled.
  
  
• Forty percent of non-Hispanic Blacks and nearly one quarter of Mexican Americans are obese.
  
  
• Obesity rates among African-American girls are the fastest growing among any demographic group in the country.