Obesity rates are soaring throughout North America (Wickelgren, 1998). With obesity reaching almost epidemic proportions in the United States, and the threat of a global epidemic, we must watch this alarming increase carefully (Hill & Peters. 1998). Obesity is defined as: "?an excess of adipose tissue?" (A Report of the Surgeon General, 1996). The two most common measures of obesity are Body Mass Index (BMI is a ratio of weight to height) and relative weight index, such as percent desirable weight (Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 1959). BMI is the most frequently used measure of obesity as it has a strong correlation with more direct measures of adiposity, such as underwater weighing (A Report of the Surgeon General, 1996). Some have proposed that genetics are at the root of obesity. While genetics may play a role in obesity, it is still not clear what role this is (Chagnon et al., 2000). While a defacto underlying cause for obesity still remains clouded in mystery, the......

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Title: Obesity
Approximate Word Count: 7163
Approximate Pages: 29 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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