Obesity – at what cost
Do drugs have a part to play in controlling obesity?
By 2050 scientists predict that a third of all men and half of the women in the UK will be ‘obese.’ Equally alarmingly, by this date, 25 per cent of under 20s and 50 per cent of all 6–10-year olds in the UK are expected to fall into this rotund state. Similar data are found in the rest of Europe, and in the US the problem is worse.
How do we classify obesity?
People with a body mass index (BMI) of 30–40 are classified as obese. The BMI is calculated from the following equation:
a person’s weight in kg / (height in m)2
A BMI between 25–30 is deemed ‘overweight’ and over 40 is ‘morbidly obese’.
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