If you are overweight or obese, carrying this extra weight puts you at risk for developing many diseases, especially heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. Losing this weight helps to prevent and control these diseases.
Obesity is a condition of excess body fat.
It is the most common form of malnutrition in the Western world. Obesity thus contributes to premature mortality. Of all obesity-related diseases, noninsulin dependent diabetes is most clearly and strongly associated with obesity. Women generally have more subcutaneous fat than men, but men appear to suffer a greater cardiovascular risk from a given degree of fat than women. The distribution of body fat may be an indicator of this difference.