Obesity (oh-BEE-si-tee) is having a high amount of body fat. A person is considered obese if he or she has a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or greater.

Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States over the last 20 years. Obesity is on track to overtake tobacco as the #1 cause of preventable death by 2010. Results of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2000 indicate that an estimated 64 percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese.

Obesity is diagnosed as an excessively high amount of body fat or adipose tissue in relation to lean body mass and often results in other life-threatening medical conditions such a diabetes, hypertension, and related heart problems.