Who is obese and what are the risk factors for developing obesity?
People can become overweight at any age, but it is more common at certain times. Several surveys show that one third of overweight adults become overweight before the age of 20 and two thirds do so after that. This means that between 75% and 80% of adults will become overweight at some time in their lives. Between 20 and 25% of the population will become overweight before the age of 20 and 50% will do so after the age of 20. Some overweight individuals will develop clinically significant problems such as diabetes, hypertension, gallbladder disease or the metabolic syndrome. The latter is a syndrome (collection of symptoms and signs) which is characterised by resistance to insulin (the body cannot use insulin effectively), problems with glucose tolerance, abnormal levels of lipids (fats) in the body (dyslipidaemia), central obesity (fat around the midriff), problems with the blood which mean that thrombosis is more likely and increased uric acid levels. It is easy to see how the metabol
