ABSTRACT
We are currently experiencing an epidemic of overweight and obesity both in the United States and abroad. The most current National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data as of the writing of this chapter was from 2005-2006, which showed that more than one third of U.S. adults (33.3% of men and 35.3% of women) were obese as dened by a body mass index (BMI) of >30 kg/m2.1 Obesity is associated with increased risks for diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers as well as an increase in relative risk of mortality. A study of over one million healthy, nonsmoking U.S. adults found that obese white men and white women had a 2.58 and 2.00 relative risk of death, respectively, compared to lean men and women.2
