Obesity is a disease that affects 39 million Americans: more than one-quarter of adults and about one of every five children. Each year, obesity causes 300,000 deaths in the U.S. Obesity is a chronic, metabolic disease caused by a combination of complex inherited and acquired factors, including excessive calorie and food intake, decreased physical activity, and genetic influences. The defining characteristics are excess body fat and the long-term treatment and management are necessary to achieve and sustain weight loss. Today more than 70 million Americans are overweight. …
