**4. Trends and predictions**

rarely stores fat as triglycerides), clears in populations (e.g. Asian) who display a tendency towards relatively low BMI values but rather high levels of abdominal fat, which make them particularly prone to NIDDM, high blood pressure (hypertension) and coronary heart disease (CHD). Studies of various Asian populations recently revealed that some 20% of adults, not already classified as being overweight or obese, still displayed marked central obesity, rendering them more prone to develop or incurring these associated disease states. Other methods of analysis measuring abdominal fat are available, such as ultrasound recordings, waist circumference and/or waist-to-hip ratios (WHR). However, unlike BMI values, these are rarely measures routinely, but alterations observed with waist circumference do reflect altered risks for developing CVD, as well as other chronic diseases. As with BMI, cut-off values have been shown to identify enhanced risks; however, for waist circumference observations, these are both sex and population specific. Hence, as the risk prediction varies from one population to

The prevalence of obesity is escalating in most part of the world, affecting men, as well as women and children. Furthermore, obesity is presently no longer just a concern or a problem for developed countries, since it since long has become a growing problem in most develop-

One should emphasize that it may often be hard to draw a direct comparison of the prevalence of adiposity between different countries, due to differing or inconsistent classifications used for the assessment of the disease. This problem could be "rectified" adopting the WHO-developed, standardized assessment/classification of obesity in harmonizing surveys in the future. Analysing a large body of available data, the worldwide prevalence of obesity has shown to range from some 5% in China, Japan and a few African countries to levels rising to some 75% of the adult population in urban Samoa. These data speak for themselves and indicate a varying prevalence of obesity within different countries/parts of the world. Furthermore, obesity levels vary, depending on ethnic origin. In the USA, and particularly amongst women, there are marked differences in the prevalence of obesity, when scrutinizing populations of different ethnic origins. However, a growing prevalence of obesity amongst children is also a major concern worldwide. However, a certain discrepancy in the "acknowledged" agreement in defining obesity in both children and adolescents has introduced

The International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) has launched a novel approach to estimate overweight and obesity amongst children. The intention here is to make it consistent with the definition of adult adiposity (http://bmj.com/cgi/content/abridged/320/7244/1240). Nevertheless, by using the existing WHO standards, collected information from some 80 developing countries, as well as a plethora of industrialized countries/areas around the

another, single global values cannot easily be applied with high precision [2].

**3. The global epidemic of obesity**

4 Adiposity - Epidemiology and Treatment Modalities

**3.1. The prevalence of excessive weight gain**

difficulties in estimating "true" prevalence data [3].

ing countries, as well.

Several countries have, since long, experienced a marked increase in obesity rates during the last 18–20 years, and during the past decade, these levels have risen by an average of 25% (give or take 10%). In Great Britain, the prevalence of obesity was doubled since 1980. And, upon scrutinizing current trends, it was predicted that the levels of obesity would continue to rise unless action is taken now. Some 20 years back, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that "the growth in the number of severely overweight adults is expected to be double that of underweight during 1995–2025". Interestingly, crude projections or rough estimates from extrapolating of data newly collected, indicate that, by the year 2025, the prevalence of obesity could affect as many as 45–50% of the population within the US, and between 30 and 40% in Australia, England and Mauritius, and more than 20% in Brazil [5].
