As defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), obesity is abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health.
A crude measure of obesity is the body mass index (BMI), which is measured by calculating a person’s weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of his or her height (in metres). A person with a BMI of 30kg.m2 or more is generally considered to be living with obesity.
Obesity is a risk factor for several chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
Obesity is a complex health condition. The UK Government’s Foresight Report, published in 2007, established that there are over 100 different factors that can contribute to weight gain and thus obesity. Many of these factors are either partially or completely outside of a person’s control.
Research evidence has highlighted that people generally believe obesity is caused by factors within a person’s control, focusing on diet and exercise without recognition of, for instance, social and environmental determinants.
