Preface

Nearly eight billion people live in the world today. Close to one billion people live on the edge of hunger, and more than two billion people are obese or overweight. Two billion peo‐ ple are lacking essential micronutrients such as vitamin A and iron. One in three women of childbearing age is anemic. There are 150 million children under five years old that are short according to their age (ie stunted). There are 50 million children whose weight is less than average according to their height (ie wasted).

The most common diseases, and also the most deadly diseases of today, are cardiovascular diseases, cancers and respiratory diseases. They are directly or indirectly related to unheal‐ thy diet. Obesity in children and adults, micronutrient deficiencies in children, pregnant women and the elderly, stunted and wasting in children are important nutritional problems in the world.

Beginning with life intrauterine, a healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits protects individ‐ uals from many acute and chronic diseases. To be protected from acute and chronic nutrition related diseases, countries should prepare control programs and undertake screening for po‐ tential deficiencies or excesses, encourage breastfeeding, provide healthy nutrition guidelines for each age group and encourage the consumption of natural probiotics and prebiotic foods.

The body mass index has an important place in weight control. Attention should be paid to the regularization of anthropometric measures and to physical activity to protect from in‐ creasing obesity that is associated with chronic noncommunicable conditions, such as diabe‐ tes mellitus, cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Also, attention should be paid to the countries that are developing. The daily intake of calories, carbohydrates, oils and proteins, vitamins and minerals and clean water is essential for all individuals, especially for children and for pregnant women.

I would like to thank IntechOpen publishing house for giving me the opportunity to be edi‐ tor of this book titled "Body-mass Index and Health" and to write this preface. I wish every‐ one fresh air, healthy water, healthy food and a healthy, long life.

Yours truly

**Prof. MD. Ayşe Emel Önal** Specialist of Public Health Directior of Department of Public Health of Istanbul University Istanbul Medical Faculty Istanbul, Turkey

**Section 1**

**Introductory Chapter - Life, Health and Body**

**Mass Index**

**Introductory Chapter - Life, Health and Body Mass Index**

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

**Introductory Chapter: Life, Health and Body Mass**

**Introductory Chapter: Life, Health and Body Mass** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.82142

The main areas of interest of Public Health are physical, social, and psychological health promotion, protection from diseases, and reaching the longest life possible by the genetic structure of man. As is known, air, water, and food are essential for life. We take the energy

Primary health care is the minimum health care that governments have to offer as a result of a publicly funded spending. Improving the nutritional status of the community and providing clean water to the community is essential for the continuity of life. While good nutrition of individuals in health protection and prevention of diseases is one of the primary protection measures, governments need to ensure food control and safety in environmental measures [2, 3]. The methods used to diagnose diseases during periods of asymptomatic or mildly symptoms are called secondary protection or screening. With screening methods, risky individuals for diseases or diseases are identified and the treatment of diseases, if any, can be treated with no

A healthy nutrition is the adequate intake of the nutrients needed to ensure the growth, development and continuity of the daily functions of the body. If healthy nutrition does not occur, malnutrition, unbalanced nutrition, and overnutrition occur. There are many nutritional diseases within these groups. Early diagnosis can be made by calculating the body mass indexes of individuals who are susceptible to these diseases or who are at the initial stage of the disease. The diagnosis is then confirmed using definitive diagnostic methods so that it can be treated at an early stage. According to these calculations, if the person is not ill but the body

difficult, and the development of complications and disabilities are prevented [4].

mass index is outside the normal limits, primary prevention measures are applied.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**Index**

**Index**

Ayşe Emel Önal

**1. Introduction**

Ayşe Emel Önal

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

we need for life from the food we consume every day [1, 2].

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82142

#### **Introductory Chapter: Life, Health and Body Mass Index Introductory Chapter: Life, Health and Body Mass Index**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.82142

#### Ayşe Emel Önal Ayşe Emel Önal

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82142
