page_title: Obesity
section_title: Causes
hierarchical_section_title: Obesity / Causes
caption_attribution_description: Two mice; the mouse on the left has more fat stores than the mouse on the right.
context_page_description: Obesity is the condition of being much too heavy for one's height so that one's health is affected. In other words, it means to be too overweight. Also known as being fat. It is considered a disease and has been described as an epidemic.
  To know if a person is overweight, the body mass index is calculated, by dividing the person's weight, by their height squared.
  A BMI between 18.5 and 25 is considered normal. People with a BMI of 25 or more are said to be overweight; with 30 and above, they are considered obese, and with 35 and above, they are considered severely obese. In general, the BMI number is a good quantifiable measurement of a person's obesity. However, it is a poor predictor in people who are very athletic, because a person with a higher than average amount of muscle tissue will weigh more than an average person, thus resulting in a BMI that is higher than normal, even if that person is very large.
context_section_description: The most common cause for obesity is getting more calories than are used by the body. Other factors that often contribute to obesity are:
  Poor nutrition
  Hormonal problems (for example, caused by hypothyroidism)
  Problems with the metabolism, e.g. weight cycling (the so-called yo-yo effect)
  Eating disorders (for example, binge eating disorder)
  Psychological problems, like depression
  Lack of sleep or sleeping problems
  Lack of exercise
  Genetics are known to contribute to obesity. Leptin is a hormone that is linked to obesity.
caption: Two mice: one on left not able to produce leptin in his body and becomes obese; and a normal mouse (right)
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