Obesity is a complex health disorder that impacts the body in many detrimental health ways. Many of the consequences of obesity and its resulting symptoms are chronic and tend to be cumulative, worsening over time without proper intervention or medical attention. When obesity and public health intersect, the results are far-reaching across cultures and age groups.

At the very least, an obese person will find that their weight will prevent them from doing things they used to enjoy doing. The Body Mass Index is a mathematical calculation that delineates how appropriate your weight is for your height.

Note — Some medical professionals and epidemiologists calculate BMI using a Waist-hip ratio. It the ratio is greater than 1. The medical community began to be concerned with the average BMIs of Americans as they steadily climbed into the overweight category and beyond over the past seven to eight decades.

However, the obesity public health issue has become reached new heights dangers as the average weight of Americans has continued to climb into the obese and morbidly obese categories at the turn of the new century. At the end of the second decade of the 21 st century, obesity as a public health issue has reached a fever pitch, as most weight loss initiatives — implemented by the government or private sector — have been, partially, or only temporarily successful.

This task force was responsible for reviewing programs and policies that dealt with childhood activity and nutrition — across the board — with a mission to create national policies and federal funding to improve resources aimed at reducing childhood obesity across the country.

Obesity as a public issue is a recognized medical problem because of its direct link to the increase in many health problems. These increased health risks impact a number of bodily functions, organs, and systems like —. Obesity is a public health issue because of the detrimental health issues it creates, plus the sheer number of Americans and most countries across the globe who have reached obese weight levels to near-record, if not dangerous, levels.

According to the CDC — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 42 million adults in the country during the years were considered obese. Obesity during childhood not only causes health problems during childhood years, but it also sets up a lifetime of health problems when these children become adults.

Obesity in childhood is a complex issue but is best managed by reducing the obesogenic environment either in their home or in society in general a child grows up within. An obesogenic environment is an environment that promotes obesity. The obesity statistics in America are staggering. Whether one is discussing the annual cost of obesity, reciting frightening obesity statistics in U.

When one considers the severity of the CDC obesity statistics, the reality of the statistics on childhood obesity, the true obesity health care costs, one must be also consider how much is obesity costing America — in terms of resources, lives, and finances.

There is a large variety of diseases caused by weight gain that lead to tremendous risks of being overweight. Obesity can cause health problems even when the health risks due to obesity begin in childhood.

In addition to the many medical health risks with being overweight, those who are obese often face the side effects of obesity like difficult, emotional lives with little joy or peace. One of the most significant health issues that is considered an obesity-related disease is that of heart disease.

Heart disease can, and often does, result in a stroke. Heart disease creates several obesity health risk factors in addition to a stroke. Other factors include angina, abnormal heart rhythms, or even cardiac arrest. Stroke is another health problem associated with obesity.

A stroke can lead to brain damage, with high blood pressure noted as a leading cause. The health risks with being overweight include these side effects of obesity —. Adult-onset diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes, is another of the health risks of being overweight or obese.

Diabetes causes high blood glucose levels which can lead to serious health risks from being overweight —. There are many types of cancers and diseases caused by weight gain.

The risks of being overweight can cause breast, colon, kidney, ovary, pancreas, gall bladder, and esophageal cancer, among others. Culturally appropriate programs and policies that help people eat nutritious foods within their calorie needs can reduce overweight and obesity.

Public health interventions that make it easier for people to be more physically active can also help them maintain a healthy weight. Learn more about objective types.

The following is a sample of objectives related to this topic. Some objectives may include population data. Hales, C. National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief. pdf [PDF - KB]. Lauby-Secretan B.

Body Fatness and Cancer — Viewpoint of the IARC Working Group. The preventable causes of death in the United States: comparative risk assessment of dietary, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors. PLoS Med. Cawley J, Meyerhoefer C. The medical care costs of obesity: an instrumental variables approach.

J Health Econ. Mission: Readiness. Too Fat to Fight. Washington, DC: Mission: Readiness; Skip to content Obesity Prevention Source. Obesity Prevention Source Menu. Search for:.

Faith-based and community-based organizations. Private sector companies supporting community efforts. Why is Obesity a Problem?

These increased health risks impact a number of bodily functions, organs, and systems like — Heart disease Hypertension Diabetes, Pre-Diabetes Fatty Liver Disease Infertility Metabolic Syndrome Gall Bladder Issues Cancer, among a host of other often preventable health disorders.

Causes of Obesity Many causes contribute to significant weight gain. Some people struggle with weight issues due to poor eating and diet choices. Some people struggle with weight issues due to sedentary lifestyles or choosing to never exercise.

Why is Obesity a Public Health Issue? Statistics on Obesity The obesity statistics in America are staggering. Obesity in the U. This increase in obesity statistics in U. has clearly led to direct increases in obesity health costs.

When adjusted for age, women were more likely to be severely obese than men. Obesity statistics in America, with regard to men and their respective income levels, reveal that the incidence of obesity was most prevalent for men who earned what is considered a salary that fell in a defined middle-income range.

statistics for women, with respect to income levels, reveals that the incidence of obesity was lowest for those women who were categorized as having the highest income among all groups.

These statistics about obesity and women confirm that there was little difference in the prevalence of obesity in non-Hispanic black women despite their income levels. Health Problems and Obesity What are the health problems associated with obesity? Heart Disease One of the most significant health issues that is considered an obesity-related disease is that of heart disease.

Stroke Stroke is another health problem associated with obesity. The health risks with being overweight include these side effects of obesity — High blood pressure. Low HDL the good blood cholesterol. An abundance of waist fat. Type 2 Diabetes Adult-onset diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes, is another of the health risks of being overweight or obese.

Diabetes causes high blood glucose levels which can lead to serious health risks from being overweight — Stroke. Heart Disease. Eye Issues. Nerve Damage. Kidney Disease, among others. Cancer There are many types of cancers and diseases caused by weight gain.

Sleep Apnea Another of the common risks of being overweight is a condition known as sleep apnea. Losing weight is a great way to improve or eliminate sleep apnea. Public Health Measures to Combat Obesity There are no simple ways to combat obesity in America if the past six or seven decades is any indication.

Ways to Combat Obesity — State and Local Programs Local and state governments offer information and resources regarding public health stopping obesity.

This would include teaching the concept of BMI as a comparison tool. Understand how to balance and maintain healthy body weight and how to use free tools on the Internet to manage the process.

The site is secure. NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. Office of the Surgeon General US ; Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion US ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention US ; National Institutes of Health US.

The Surgeon General's Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity. Rockville MD : Office of the Surgeon General US ; This Surgeon General's Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity seeks to engage leaders from diverse groups in addressing a public health issue that is among the most burdensome faced by the Nation: the health consequences of overweight and obesity.

This burden manifests itself in premature death and disability, in health care costs, in lost productivity, and in social stigmatization. The burden is not trivial.

Studies show that the risk of death rises with increasing weight. Even moderate weight excess 10 to 20 pounds for a person of average height increases the risk of death, particularly among adults aged 30 to 64 years.

Overweight and obesity are caused by many factors. For each individual, body weight is determined by a combination of genetic, metabolic, behavioral, environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic influences.

Behavioral and environmental factors are large contributors to overweight and obesity and provide the greatest opportunity for actions and interventions designed for prevention and treatment. Unhealthy dietary habits and sedentary behavior together account for approximately , deaths every year.

Department of Agriculture's Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals, very few Americans meet the majority of the Food Guide Pyramid recommendations. Only 3 percent of all individuals meet four of the five recommendations for the intake of grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and meats.

Dietary adequacy and moderation in energy consumption are both important for maintaining or achieving a healthy weight and for overall health. Many adult Americans have not been meeting Federal physical activity recommendations to accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week.

Our society has become very sedentary; for example, in , 43 percent of students in grades 9 through 12 viewed television more than 2 hours per day. Both dietary intake and physical activity are difficult to measure on either an individual or a population level.

More research is clearly necessary to fully understand the specific etiology of this crisis. However, these statistics and the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity highlight the need to engage all Americans as we move forward to ensure the quality and accessibility of prevention and treatment programs.

Public Health and the Surgeon General Through cooperative action, public health programs have successfully prevented the spread of infectious disease, protected against environmental hazards, reduced accidents and injuries, responded to disasters, worked toward ensuring the quality and accessibility of health services, and promoted healthy behaviors.

As the threats to America's health have shifted, so too have public health efforts. In recent years, public health efforts have successfully navigated new frontiers such as violence prevention, tobacco cessation, and mental health.

Public health officials remain poised to address new health challenges through the collaborative processes of scientific research, policy development, and community mobilization.

The first challenge in addressing overweight and obesity lies in adopting a common public health measure of these conditions. An expert panel, convened by the National Institutes of Health NIH in , has utilized Body Mass Index BMI for defining overweight and obesity.

BMI is a measure of weight in relation to height. BMI is calculated as weight in pounds divided by the square of the height in inches, multiplied by Alternatively, BMI can be calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters. Studies have shown that BMI is significantly correlated with total body fat content for the majority of individuals.

In children and adolescents, overweight has been defined as a sex- and age-specific BMI at or above the 95th percentile, based on revised Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC growth charts figures 2 and 3. Figure 2: Body-Mass-Index for age percentiles for boys aged 2 to 20 years of age.

Figure 3: Body-Mass-Index for age percentiles for girls aged 2 to 20 years of age. Epidemiological studies show an increase in mortality associated with overweight and obesity. Morbidity from obesity may be as great as from poverty, smoking, or problem drinking.

Any minute now, the belt will run out of holes. Previous work indicates that moral panics often displace broader anxieties about changing gender roles. Yet despite all of the moral connotations ascribed to weight gain, we have little idea exactly why people weigh somewhat more now than they did a generation ago.

Not surprisingly, some works suggest that increasing caloric intake and decreasing activity levels, in some combination, are sufficient explanations for this trend.

What if higher than average weight turns out to have neither much medical nor moral significance? The answer to these questions, all of which we believe are strongly suggested by the epidemiological literature, go far beyond the issues of body mass and health.

The current scientific evidence should prompt health professionals and policy makers to consider whether it makes sense to treat body weight as a barometer of public health. Olshansky SJ, Passaro DJ, Hershow RC et al. A potential decline in life expectancy in the United States in the 21st century.

N Engl J Med ; : — Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Kuczmarski RJ, Johnson CL. Overweight and obesity in the United States: prevalence and trends, — Int J Obes ; 22 : 39 — Freedman DS, Khan LK, Serdula MK, Galuska DA, Dietz WH. JAMA ; : — Hedley AA, Ogden CL, Johnson CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, Flegal KM.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity among US children, adolescents, and adults, — J Am Med Assoc ; : — Flegal KM, Graubard BI, Williamson DF, Gail MH. Excess deaths associated with underweight, overweight, and obesity. Durazo-Arvizu RA, McGee DL, Cooper RS, Liao Y, Luke A.

Mortality and optimal body mass index in a sample of the US population. Am J Epidemiol ; : — Troiano RP, Frongillo EA Jr, Sobal J, Levitsky DA.

The relationship between body weight and mortality: a quantitative analysis of combined information from existing studies. Int J Obes ; 20 : 63 — Lissner L, Odell PM, D'Agostino RB et al.

Variability of body weight and health outcomes in the Framingham population. Diaz VA, Mainous AG III, Everett CJ. The association between weight fluctuation and mortality: results from a population-based cohort study. J Community Health ; 30 : — Lee CD, Blair SN, Jackson AS.

Cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in men. Am J Clin Nutr ; 69 : — Farrell SW, Braun L, Barlow CE, Cheng YJ, Blair SN. The relation of body mass index, cardiorespiratory fitness, and all-cause mortality in women.

Obes Res ; 10 : — Haller CA, Meier KH, Olson KR. Seizures reported in association with use of dietary supplements. Clin Toxicol Phila ; 43 : 23 — Pittler MH, Schmidt K, Ernst E. Adverse events of herbal food supplements for body weight reduction: systematic review.

Obes Rev ; 6 : 93 — Chen C, Biller J, Willing SJ, Lopez AM. Ischemic stroke after using over the counter products containing ephedra. J Neurol Sci ; : 55 — Kernan WN, Viscoli CM, Brass LM et al.

Phenylpropanolamine and the Risk of Hemorrhagic Stroke. Walker SP, Rimm EB, Ascherio A, Kawachi I, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC. Body size and fat distribution as predictors of stroke among US men. Lake CR, Rosenberg D, Quirk R. Phenylpropanolamine and caffeine use among diet center clients.

Int J Obes ; 14 : — Keller HH. Weight gain impacts morbidity and mortality in institutionalized older persons. J Am Geriatr Soc ; 43 : — Milne AC, Potter J, Avenell A. Protein and energy supplementation in elderly people at risk from malnutrition.

Cochrane Database Syst Rev ; 3 : CD Yamashita BD, Sullivan DH, Morley JE et al. The GAIN Geriatric Anorexia Nutrition registry: the impact of appetite and weight on mortality in a long-term care population.

J Nutr Health Aging ; 6 : — National Task Force on the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity. Overweight, Obesity, and Health Risk. Arch Intern Med ; : — Nakanishi N, Nakamura K, Suzuki K, Matsuo Y, Tatara K.

Associations of body mass index and percentage body fat by bioelectrical impedance analysis with cardiovascular risk factors in Japanese male office workers.

Ind Health ; 38 : — Warne DK, Charles MA, Hanson RL et al. Comparison of body size measurements as predictors of NIDDM in Pima Indians. Diabetes Care ; 18 : — Spiegelman D, Israel RG, Bouchard C, Willett WC. Absolute fat mass, percent body fat, and body-fat distribution: which is the real determinant of blood pressure and serum glucose.

Am J Clin Nutr ; 55 : — Hochberg MC, Lethbridge-Cejku M, Scott WW Jr, Reichle R, Plato CC, Tobin JD. The association of body weight, body fatness and body fat distribution with osteoarthritis of the knee: data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

J Rheumatol ; 22 : — Anderson B, Connor JP, Andrews JI et al. Obesity and prognosis in endometrial cancer. Am J Obstet Gynecol ; : — Neel JV, Weder AB, Julius S. Perspect Biol Med ; 42 : 44 — Klein S, Fontana L, Young VL et al.

Absence of an effect of liposuction on insulin action and risk factors for coronary heart disease. Fagard RH. Physical activity in the prevention and treatment of hypertension in the obese. Med Sci Sports Exerc ; 31 Suppl. Appel LJ, Moore TJ, Obarzanek E et al. A clinical trial of the effects of dietary patterns on blood pressure.

DASH Collaborative Research Group. Lamarche B, Després J-P, Pouliot M-C et al. Is body fat loss a determinant factor in the improvement of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism following aerobic exercise training in obese women.

Metab Clin Exp ; 41 : — Kraus WE, Houmard JA, Duscha BD et al. Effects of the amount and intensity of exercise on plasma lipoproteins. Bjorntorp P, De Jounge K, Sjostrom L, Sullivan L. The effect of physical training on insulin production in obesity.

Metab Clin Exp ; 19 : — Terry RB, Stefanick ML, Haskell WL, Wood PD. Contributions of regional adipose tissue depots to plasma lipoprotein concentrations in overweight men and women: possible protective effects of thigh fat.

Metab Clin Exp ; 40 : — Seidell JC, Perusse L, Despres JP, Bouchard C. Waist and hip circumferences have independent and opposite effects on cardiovascular disease risk factors: the Quebec Family Study.

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Body Fatness and Cancer — Viewpoint of the IARC Working Group. New England Journal of Medicine, 8 , — DOI: Department of Health and Human Services. Managing Overweight and Obesity in Adults.

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Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Home Objectives and Data Browse Objectives Overweight and Obesity.

Overweight and Obesity. Overview and Objectives Evidence-Based Resources. Goal: Reduce overweight and obesity by helping people eat healthy and get physical activity.

Objective Status 0 Target met or exceeded 0 Improving 4 Little or no detectable change 2 Getting worse 0 Baseline only 1 Developmental 0 Research. Related Objectives The following is a sample of objectives related to this topic.

Little or no detectable change. Getting worse. Other topics you may be interested in Diabetes Nutrition and Healthy Eating Physical Activity Pregnancy and Childbirth.

Department of Agriculture's Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals, very few Americans meet the majority of the Food Guide Pyramid recommendations. Only 3 percent of all individuals meet four of the five recommendations for the intake of grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and meats.

Dietary adequacy and moderation in energy consumption are both important for maintaining or achieving a healthy weight and for overall health. Many adult Americans have not been meeting Federal physical activity recommendations to accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week.

Our society has become very sedentary; for example, in , 43 percent of students in grades 9 through 12 viewed television more than 2 hours per day. Both dietary intake and physical activity are difficult to measure on either an individual or a population level.

More research is clearly necessary to fully understand the specific etiology of this crisis. However, these statistics and the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity highlight the need to engage all Americans as we move forward to ensure the quality and accessibility of prevention and treatment programs.

Public Health and the Surgeon General Through cooperative action, public health programs have successfully prevented the spread of infectious disease, protected against environmental hazards, reduced accidents and injuries, responded to disasters, worked toward ensuring the quality and accessibility of health services, and promoted healthy behaviors.

As the threats to America's health have shifted, so too have public health efforts. In recent years, public health efforts have successfully navigated new frontiers such as violence prevention, tobacco cessation, and mental health. Public health officials remain poised to address new health challenges through the collaborative processes of scientific research, policy development, and community mobilization.

The first challenge in addressing overweight and obesity lies in adopting a common public health measure of these conditions. An expert panel, convened by the National Institutes of Health NIH in , has utilized Body Mass Index BMI for defining overweight and obesity.

BMI is a measure of weight in relation to height. BMI is calculated as weight in pounds divided by the square of the height in inches, multiplied by Alternatively, BMI can be calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters.

Studies have shown that BMI is significantly correlated with total body fat content for the majority of individuals. In children and adolescents, overweight has been defined as a sex- and age-specific BMI at or above the 95th percentile, based on revised Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC growth charts figures 2 and 3.

Figure 2: Body-Mass-Index for age percentiles for boys aged 2 to 20 years of age. Figure 3: Body-Mass-Index for age percentiles for girls aged 2 to 20 years of age. Epidemiological studies show an increase in mortality associated with overweight and obesity. Morbidity from obesity may be as great as from poverty, smoking, or problem drinking.

For example, a weight gain of 11 to 18 pounds increases a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes to twice that of individuals who have not gained weight, while those who gain 44 pounds or more have four times the risk of type 2 diabetes. A gain of approximately 10 to 20 pounds results in an increased risk of coronary heart disease nonfatal myocardial infarction and death of 1.

Although obesity-associated morbidities occur most frequently in adults, important consequences of excess weight as well as antecedents of adult disease occur in overweight children and adolescents.

Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to become overweight or obese adults; this concern is greatest among adolescents.

Type 2 diabetes, high blood lipids, and hypertension as well as early maturation and orthopedic problems also occur with increased frequency in overweight youth. A common consequence of childhood overweight is psychosocial -- specifically discrimination.

These data on the morbidity and mortality associated with overweight and obesity demonstrate the importance of the prevention of weight gain, as well as the role of obesity treatment, in maintaining and improving health and quality of life. Overweight and obesity and their associated health problems have substantial economic consequences for the U.

health care system. The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity is associated with both direct and indirect costs.

Direct health care costs refer to preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services related to overweight and obesity for example, physician visits and hospital and nursing home care.

Indirect costs refer to the value of wages lost by people unable to work because of illness or disability, as well as the value of future earnings lost by premature death.

adults aged 20 to 74 years are overweight BMI 25 to Figure 4: Age adjusted prevalence of overweight and obesity among U. adults aged 20 to 74 years. The most recent data estimate that 13 percent of children aged 6 to 11 years and 14 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 19 years are overweight.

Figure 5: Prevalence of overweight among U. children and adolescents. For example, overweight and obesity are particularly common among minority groups and those with a lower family income.

In general, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is higher in women who are members of racial and ethnic minority populations than in non-Hispanic white women.

Among men, Mexican Americans have a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity than non-Hispanic whites or non-Hispanic blacks. For non-Hispanic men, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among whites is slightly greater than among blacks.

Within racial groups, gender disparities exist, although not always in the same direction. Figure 6: Age adjusted prevalence of overweight or obesity in selected groups from National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 3 from to Racial and ethnic disparities in overweight may also occur in children and adolescents.

Data for youth from NHANES III showed a similar pattern to that seen among adults. Mexican American boys tended to have a higher prevalence of overweight than non- Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white boys.

Non-Hispanic black girls tended to have a higher prevalence of overweight compared to non-Hispanic white and Mexican American girls.

In addition to racial and ethnic and gender disparities, the prevalence of overweight and obesity also varies by age. Among both men and women, the prevalence of overweight and obesity increases with advancing age until the sixth decade, after which it starts to decline.

Disparities in the prevalence of overweight and obesity also exist based on socioeconomic status. Men are about equally likely to be obese whether they are in a low or high socioeconomic group.

Among children, the relationship between socioeconomic status and overweight in girls is weaker than it is in women; that is, girls from lower income families have not consistently been found to be overweight compared to girls from higher income families. Among Mexican American and non-Hispanic black children and adolescents, family income does not reliably predict overweight prevalence.