Normal weight obesity

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The prevalence of obesity has risen rapidly over the years and shows no clear signs of slowing down. A great epidemiological representation of that can be seen in studies using the population of the US of A, collected from the 1960s to present time. It has shown that obesity in the population has increased from ~13% to almost 30%.

To clinically classify a person as being obese, their Body Mass Index (BMI) must be equal to or greater than 30kg/m2. However, the spectrum of obesity is quite large. Normal Weight Obesity (NWO), found in almost half of the American adult population, is when a person has a normal BMI or normal body weight but also has a high percentage of body fat(>20% for men and >30% for women) as well as heart and metabolic disturbances.