Obesity and Morbid Obesity - A World Wide Problem

Obesity and especially morbid obesity, are regarded by the health profession throughout the world as being a killer disease.

It can be said that obesity affects those people who fail to look after their general health. As such it's a disease that's totally avoidable - with care and diligence the worst aspects of the condition can be prevented.

However those sufferers who experience the severe medical problems associated with the condition can expect to live 9 years LESS than a person free of the condition.

Once thought to be a problem confined to the affluent western countries, it is now being seen in countries experiencing a rapid improvement in their living standards. However the countries with the biggest increase in numbers are still the west countries, with large increases being seen in children.

Obesity: Definition and Causes
What is obesity, what causes it, and why is the most extreme form of obesity, morbid obesity, particularly life threatening?

Obesity is a term used for those people who are grossly overweight as defined by the Body Mass Index scale, a scale used by the medical profession to determine the weight status of an individual. It means a person who is well in excess of an ideal weight for a person of the same age and height; a condition that has the likelihood of progressing to morbid obesity - an extreme form of obesity - and thus cause a number of life threatening conditions.

It's now accepted by nutritionists that the principal causes of overweight and obesity are a poor diet with an absence of vital foods, and a life without regular exercises.

Morbid obesity is a more pronounced form of obesity characterized by an over-abundance of body fat. It's responsible for a multitude of health problems many of which can eventually result in death. Some of these conditions are type 2 diabetes, heart ailments, some forms of cancer, sleep apnea, and various mental problems such as depression.

Now a Worldwide Medical Problem
The number of people world -wide suffering from the effects of obesity has exploded in the last 20 years with the result that the World Health Organization is now monitoring the situation and looking at how countries are able to cope with ever-increasing health budgets.

Once thought to be a self-inflicted social problem rather than a health problem, obesity and its more troublesome condition is now regarded as a major disease by governments and the medical community. There are more than 300 million people affected throughout the world with more than a billion people said to be over weight. This problem can justly be called an obesity epidemic.

Many Western countries are experiencing ever growing numbers of sufferers, some more so than others. The US leads the way with about 30% of the adult population said to be obese, with the incidence particularly high amongst Afro-Americans and those of Spanish decent. The obesity rate for children is also the worst in the world, with every indication it'll get worse before there's any improvement.

Other countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada and many European countries have rates that are cause for serious concern with the number of over weight children in these countries mirroring the increase in the US.

At the end of 2006 the World Health Organization in conjunction with European countries drew up plans to halt the spread of the disease. Certain objectives were set that hopefully will lead to a reduction in the rate of increase in the number of obese people, and eventually a decline.

The medical research companies are playing their part too in helping to combat this problem. One of the most recent discoveries was that of a natural plant product that helps to dispel from the human body fat from a recently eaten meal.

This product has been clinically tested and found that 28% of the fat consumed is dispelled by natural means, rather than be stored in the body as fat. This product also acts as an appetite suppressant, thus reinforcing its role as an effective weight loss product.

The author has a personal interest in a wide range of health and social issues and has contributed to web sites dealing with topics such as how to lose weight and weight loss tips. He's also written about Hoodia diet pills and the problems associated with this product.