The world is experiencing an obesity epidemic. People worldwide are becoming more and more overweight and obese. Some researchers use the phrase 'globesity' for this phenomenon.

Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled from 1975 to 2016. In 2016, among adults aged 18 years and over, 39% were overweight and 13% were obese. While just under 1% of children and adolescents aged 5-19 were obese in 1975, approximately 6% of girls and 8% of boys were obese in 2016.

USA is experiencing an obesity epidemic. According to CDC, prevalence of obesity in 2017-2018 was 42.4%; prevalence of severe obesity was 9.2%.

Indian scientists have proposed that BMI cut-offs for Indian population be defined as: Normal (18-22), Overweight (23-24), Obese (25+). Wow! This means that somebody from India with BMI = 23 would be overweight by WHO-defined BMI cut-offs used in USA, but obese by India-specific cut-offs.

Like many countries in the world, India is also experiencing an obesity epidemic. In 1990, except for two states (Punjab and Telangana), no state had over 14% of its population classified as overweight (BMI ≥ 25). However, by 2016, only a handful of states had less than 14% of its population classified as overweight. In fact, many states have over 29% of adults as overweight. If India-specific BMI cut-offs were used, then all of these individuals would be classified as obese.

A CADI Research article on obesity among Indian Americans explains: (a) Using the standard criteria (BMI >30) only 11% to 17% were obese, which increased to 50 -70% when Asia Pacific and/or Indian criteria (BMI >25) was used. (b) Using standard criteria, the prevalence of abdominal obesity among Asian Indians in the US was 23% which increased to 60% when using Asia Pacific and/or Indian criteria.

Obesity increases the risk of dozens of other diseases. Which ones? And by how much? In 2020, Dr Greger published a video series called 'The ABCs of Obesity' in which he covered these diseases in alphabetic order.

Waist-to-Height Ratio (WHtR) is said to be a better predictor of risk for various chronic diseases than BMI. Waist-to-Height Ratio is easily measurable at home.

What should our BMI and waist size be?