The International Association for the Study of Obesity

Obesity is problem of having too much body fat. It is not same as being overweight, which means gaining too much weight. The weight may come from muscle, bone, fat, and/or body water. Both terms mean that a person's weight is more than what is considered healthy for his or her health. Obesity occurs over time when a person eat more calories than he use. The balance between calories intake and calorie-out is not same in person to person. Factors that might affect your weight include person’s genetic makeup, overeating, eating high-fatty foods, and not being physically active. Obesity increases person’s risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and some cancers. If a person is obese, losing even 5 to 10 percent of weight can slow down or prevent some of these diseases. Obesity is a continuously increasing common problem because for most of people modern living involves eating excessive amounts of fast-foods, high-calorie food and spending a huge time of sitting down, at desks, on sofas or in cars. IASO and its policy section, the International Obesity Taskforce lead the world in promoting problems related to obesity and obesity policies. It is a 10,000-member scientific society and research dissemination body with over 50 national and regional associations around the globe. It has wide experience in advising policy makers and as such is well-suited to propagate the results of the proposed programme of work to regional policy makers responsible for obesity prevention in the general public.