Why should we worry about obesity?
If you are overweight, you should keep reading. This page is not written to alarm you or to make you feel guilty. We assume that you have come to this Acomplia site because you are thinking about trying to lose some weight. This page should give you more reasons to buy Acomplia alongside the decision to begin eating smaller quantities, eating fewer calories and exercising a little more.
Let us start with a definition. The standard measure of obesity is a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30. It is caused by a build-up of excess fat in the body when we eat too many unhealthy foods. In almost all the developed countries, the percentage of the population considered clinically overweight and obese has been increasing rapidly over the last thirty years. The World Health Organisation currently estimates that every year about a quarter of a million deaths in Europe and more than 2·5 million deaths world wide are weight-related. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause. This is an upward trend with death rates likely to increase as the percentage of obese members of the population also increases. In the USA, for example, comparing the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey reports for the periods 1976–1980 and 2003-2004 shows that the rates of those overweight increased as follows:
- for the youngest group aged 2–5 years, from 5.0% to 13.9%;
- for the intermediate group of children aged 6–11 years, from 6.5% to 18.8%;
- for young adults aged 12–19 years, from 5.0% to 17.4%; and
- for adults aged between 20–74 years, from 15.0% to 32.9;
This pattern of increase is matched across all countries although the individual sets of statistics vary to some degree. There are many reasons for this trend, but the main factors are:
- more land is now developed for agricultural use;
- agricultural technology has significantly improved fertilisers, developed more efficient machinery to plant and harvest the produce and, through genetic engineering, has produced new plant varieties that will grow in different climatic conditions, resist diseases and pests, etc.;
- the world market developed and our ability to carry bulk cargoes by sea and air improved to the point that we now move food from producer countries to consuming countries more cheaply and efficiently;
- the world grew richer and can afford to buy better food — when people are poor, they eat a diet that is enough to sustain life but no more. One of the first signs of affluence is that people eat more. Thus, obesity is an emerging problem in China and India.
Until recently, world food prices were falling. We were producing more food than we needed. The result is easy to see in every public place. More people are overweight. Indeed, the public health authorities in the majority of countries around the world agree as a medical fact that obesity is reaching epidemic proportions. Thus, the development of a drug like Acomplia is very significant both for individuals and for the countries where they live.
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