What is obesity? What is the difference with morbid obesity? What are your causes?

Europe is going through another epidemic: obesity 0:48

(CNN Spanish) --

According to information from the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity has tripled since 1975. The latest data, from 2016, indicated that more than 1,900 million adults in the world had overweight, among whom some 650 million were obese.  

Obesity and overweight are currently of epidemic proportions, affirms the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), adding that it is one of the main risk factors for a series of chronic diseases "including diabetes, diseases cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, as well as various types of cancer.

These data pose enormous global challenges in the face of a disease that, however, is often approached incorrectly.

According to the WHO, obesity can be prevented. 

• More than 1 million children and adolescents suffer from obesity in the US. Know the guidelines of pediatricians to stop it

Here, everything you need to know about obesity, its variants and what are its causes.

What are we talking about when we talk about obesity? 

Obesity consists of an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in the body that can be detrimental to health, according to the globally accepted definition.

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The WHO uses a technical definition for both obesity and overweight that is based on body mass index (BMI).

It is an indicator that relates a person's weight and height and is used to identify overweight and obesity in adults.

The BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters (kg/m2).

Thus, an adult person is considered to be overweight if their BMI is between 25 and up to 30, and they are considered to be obese when their BMI is equal to or greater than 30.

The National Health Service of the United Kingdom (NHS) although it admits that the BMI indicator is useful to determine if a person has a healthy weight, warns that it has some limitations because it measures the weight of people, but it does not distinguish between fat and muscle.

"Very muscular people, like professional athletes, could have a high BMI without having too much fat," he says.

What is morbid obesity?

Among the cases of obesity, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) establishes that there are different categories, according to the patient's BMI index.

A person before a scale.

Class 1 obesity has a BMI between 30 and 35, class 2 obesity between 35 and 40, and class 3 obesity has a BMI over 40. The latter is considered severe obesity, or also known as "morbid obesity." .

What are the causes?

According to the WHO, the cause of obesity and overweight is an "energy imbalance between calories consumed and expended".

According to the organization, there are two factors behind the growth of this disease: an increase in high-calorie and high-fat foods, coupled with the spread of a more sedentary lifestyle.

Although useful as an overview, more and more definitions analyze a multi-causal scenario to explain the "epidemic" of overweight and obesity.

The CDC refers to obesity and overweight as a "complex" disease, stating: "Many factors can contribute to excessive weight gain, including eating patterns, levels of physical activity, and sleep routines. Social determinants health, genetics and the use of certain medications also play a role.

In this context, beyond the individual recommendations aimed at reversing the energy imbalance referred to by the WHO, the lines of action of specialized organizations are increasingly aimed at attacking the structural causes of the disease.

PAHO refers to action policies aimed at structural changes such as the improvement of primary care and the promotion of breastfeeding and healthy care;

improving nutrition and increasing physical activity in educational settings;

and policies aimed at regulating the marketing of food and its labeling, among other actions.

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