Facts about obesity Overweight and obesity together make up a
leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. Obesity is a
chronic disease that can seriously affect your health.
Overweight means that you have extra body weight, and obesity
means having a high amount of extra body fat. Being overweight
or obese raises your risk for health problems, including
coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Public
health experts agree that overweight and obesity have reached
epidemic proportions in this country and around the world,
although the increase seems to have leveled off recently. More
than a third of U.S. adults are obese. People ages 60 and older
are more likely to be obese than younger adults, according to
the most recent data from the National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey. And the problem also affects children. One
out of five, or 17 percent, of U.S. children ages 6 to 19 is
obese. Overweight and obesity are different points on a scale
that ranges from being underweight to being morbi