About Obesity

Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.

Body mass index (BMI) is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify overweight and obesity in adults. It is defined as a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters (kg/m2).

Obesity is a complex disease characterised by excessive adiposity that impairs health.  Body Mass Index (BMI) is a surrogate marker of adiposity, allowing segregation of obesity into three levels of severity, including:

• Class 1: BMI of 30.00 kg/m2 to 34.99 kg/m2
• Class 2 (moderate): BMI of 35.00 kg/m2 to 39.99 kg/m2
• Class 3 (severe): BMI of 40.00 kg/m2 or higher.

Altered BMI criteria may apply to specific populations, such as the widespread use of lower BMI cut-offs in the Asian population.

Obesity may arise from different causes, including altered environments, personal situations and psycho-social factors, medications, diseases, trauma, iatrogenic procedures, and genetic variations.

The science behind Obesity