| The problem with Obesity |
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Adult morbid or severe obesity has been recognised as a worldwide pandemic with 1.1 billion people worldwide being overweight. Severe obesity is a chronic, debilitating incurable illness. In New Zealand we have an environment that supports obesity with ready access to poor nutrition in combination with reduced physical activity. The table below illustrates the World Health Organisation (WHO) definitions of weight and obesity as defined by the Body Mass Index (BMI) as this is the most widely recognised accepted measure (where BMI is the individuals’ weight in kilograms divided by the height in meters squared).
WHO classification of weight by BMI Â |