Today obesity is one of the most frustrating diseases predominant all over the world. Due to unbalanced and irregular eating habits obesity has become a common problem around the globe. Around the globe, it is most prevalent in North America, Australia, Europe and most of the developed countries. Obesity results in reduced life expectancy and become the cause of several other diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, heart disorders, gall bladder disorders and even certain forms of cancer.
Obesity is a physical condition in which the body accumulates excessive fat in the body resulting in adverse health effects. If the weight of your body is 20% more than the required weight, it means you are suffering from obesity. This state arises due to intake of more calories then the requirement.
There always has been confusion between obesity and overweight. Most of the people think that both of them are similar. Obesity is something due to excessive gain of fat in the body while a person can gain overweight due to extra muscle, bone, or water, as well as due to accumulation of excess fat.
If we look around the statistical data of obesity in the world, it has doubled in number since 1980. At present 65% of the world's population is facing the problem of obesity. According to a survey in 2008, 1.5 billion adults of age more than 20 years were overweight out of which 300 million were women and there were 200 million men who were found obese. In 2010, 43 million children were found overweight that was at the age of 5 years.
Thus, by seeing such data we can conclude that how serious is the problem of obesity becoming day by day. Obesity is a serious problem and can be chronic, though it is preventive if we take care of our diet and certain other things. Ayurveda provides a range of remedial practices and medications for the prevention and cure of obesity that are quite effective and beneficial.