[su_service title=”Did you Know” icon=”icon: comments-o” icon_color=”#453b32″]Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese.[/su_service]
[su_service title=”Did you Know” icon=”icon: comments-o” icon_color=”#453b32″]39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13% were obese. 41 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2016. Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016.[/su_service]
[su_service title=”Did you Know” icon=”icon: comments-o” icon_color=”#453b32″]India is world’s most obese nation after the USA and China. In childhood (0-16 years) obesity, 15 percent of Indian children and obese.[/su_service]
[su_service title=”Did you Know” icon=”icon: comments-o” icon_color=”#453b32″]Only 28 percent of the total population know the scientific definition of obesity and the health hazards associated with it.[/su_service]
Disease or Disorder?
While disorder is a derangement or abnormality of function; a morbid physical or mental state, a disease is defined as a definite pathological process having a characteristic set of signs and symptoms. A disease may affect the whole body or any of its parts, and its etiology, pathology, and prognosis may be known or unknown.
Obesity a Disease
The three essential characteristics of disease: (a) an impairment of the normal functioning of some aspect of the body; (b) that has characteristic signs or symptoms; and (c) results in harm or morbidity to the entity affected. Obesity meets these 3 conditions. Thus, recognizing obesity as a disease is the need of the hour.
Initiatives by UDF
AMA has already recognized Obesity as a chronic disease; project ROAD aims at creating awareness at multiple levels in India. Obesity is killing the world; and this isn’t any exaggeration. The most common diseases linked to obesity include Cancer, Infertility, Back pain, Arthritis, Diabetes, Stroke and Heart diseases.