obesity

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Science & Tech

obesity

medical disorder

Also known as: corpulence, fatness

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 11, 2024 • Article History

obesity

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Category: Science & Tech

Also called:: corpulence or fatness

Related Topics:: nutritional disease; exercise; pickwickian syndrome; central obesity; childhood obesity

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Mar. 9, 2024, 11:36 PM ET (The Star)

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obesity, excessive accumulation of body fat, usually caused by the consumption of more calories than the body can use. The excess calories are then stored as fat, or adipose tissue. Overweight, if moderate, is not necessarily obesity, particularly in muscular or large-boned individuals. Obesity was traditionally defined as an increase in body weight that was greater than 20 percent of an individual’s ideal body weight—the weight associated with the lowest risk of death, as determined by certain factors, such as age, height, and gender. Based on these factors, overweight could then be defined as a 15–20 percent increase over ideal ...(100 of 2091 words)

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