ABSTRACT
Obesity, which is the long-term outcome of energy intake in excess of energy expenditure, is emerging as a worldwide epidemic. Although childhood obesity is now increasingly common, epidemiologic studies indicate that the onset of obesity in most men tends to occur in young adulthood, and progresses through middle and old age. While there is no proper definition for ‘middle age’, it is arbitrarily characterized by most studies as the age group of 40-65 years. The United States National Health and Nutrition Surveys of 1988-94 (NHANES III) reported an obesity prevalence of 19.9% amongst men, based on a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or greater.1 Although the prevalence of overweight (BMI ≥ 25.0) Japanese men aged 15 years or older was much lower at 1.6% in 1993, recent data indicate the prevalence has risen to 32% in 2001 amongst those aged 40-49 years.2
