Expanding Evidence for the Multiple Dangers of Epidemic Abdominal Obesity

of America has been expanding now for decades, 1 largely as a consequence of an obesogenic environment, with a car-worshipping culture and take-away lifestyle par excellence. Accumulating research evidence suggests that the personal and economic costs of the obesity epidemic are immense, 3 driven by the obesity-related increases in risk for conditions such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, the metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease (CVD), kidney disease, arthritis, cancer, asthma, and sleep-disordered breathing. In addition, decreases are apparent in self-esteem and quality of life.