The Global Epidemic of Obesity: An Overview

For centuries, the human race struggled to overcome food scarcity, disease, and a hostile environment. With the onset of the industrial revolution, the great powers understood that increasing the average body size of the population was an important social and political factor. The military and economic might of countries was critically dependent on the body size and strength of their young generations, from which soldiers and workers were drawn. Moving the body mass index (BMI) distribution of the population from the underweight range toward normality had an important impact on survival and productivity, playing a central role in the economic development of industrialized societies (1). Historical records from developed countries indicate that height and weight increased progressively, particularly during the 19th century. During the 20th century, as populations from better-off countries began to approach their genetic potential for longitudinal growth, they began to gain proportionally more weight than height, with the resulting increase in average BMI. By the year 2000, the human race reached a sort of historical landmark, when for the first time in human evolution the number of adults with excess weight surpassed the number of those who were underweight (2). Excess adiposity/body weight is now widely recognized as one of today's leading health threats in most countries around the world and as a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension (3). This overview provides an introduction to this issue of Epidemiologic Reviews, highlighting, in historical perspective, key scientific aspects of obesity that are addressed by the 11 articles that follow. This compilation of reviews underscores the multidisciplinary nature of obesity research and the need to expand even further our scope to fully understand and confront the obesity epidemic.