ABSTRACT
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), overweight and obesity are increasing in prevalence and rank fifth as worldwide causes of death among risk factors, behind high blood pressure, tobacco use, high blood glucose, and physical inactivity. In high and middle income countries, where the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the adult population already exceeds 50%, overweight and obesity occupy third place as risk factors causing death, behind high blood pressure and tobacco use. WHO defined overweight as body mass index (BMI; weight divided by height2) at or above 25 kg m-2, with obesity defined as BMI ≥ 30 kg m-2 [1]. Guidelines published by the USA National
Institutes of Health, using the same definition, considered that overweight and obesity are the second leading cause of preventable death in the USA, behind smoking [2].
