1. It is common.
2. It is associated with increased sickness and death rates, notably in respect to heart, circulatory, kidney, and metabolic disorders as well as surgical and obstetrical complications.
0. It can be treated with success as one practical way to help control associated medical conditions.

The assumption that illness can be reduced and death delayed through the correction of obesity depends on whether two things are true: that weight reduction can and does lower the risk of disability and death and, that weight reduction can be achieved and maintained.

Medical experience strongly suggests greater risks for overweight persons in respect to most of the major disorders besetting our population. Statistical reports, notably from life insurance sources, provide the principal support indicating increased hazards associated with overweight. Although overweight and obesity are not the same, most overweight persons are obese; that is, they have an excess of body fat that amounts to more than 15 per cent over the average weight for their height and sex. A cause and effect relationship between overweight and increased danger to health has not been established, and available information does not supply positive proof of beneficial effects directly due to weight reduction. On the other hand, the evidence for generally adverse effects from obesity seems too massive and too consistent to be ignored. Unless and until definite evidence is forthcoming to the contrary, it appears reasonable to advise apparently well and afflicted individuals alike to avoid overweight, and, if overweight, to reduce and then stay reduced.

Taking fewer calories than are needed seems within the theoretical capability of almost every person. Yet reported results suggest that

this frequently attempted experience is difficult and is seldom achieved. Irrespective of source and of circumstances, reliable, unbiased, and sufficient long-term observations indicate poor over-all success for most "dieters."

Obesity is not always readily subject to treatment, and correction of obesity does not always insure elimination of the added risks associated with this condition. Yet it must be acknowledged that efforts toward its control seem justified by the relative health advantages currently identified with normal weight status.

The practical management of obesity may be divided into four interdependent and overlapping aspects: psychological, pharmaceutical, physical, and dietary. General management of obesity is directed toward establishing an energy balance in an individual with the right kind as well as the right amount of body weight. Proper management requires a correct diagnosis as well as an attempt to assess the "specific" causes of obesity in each instance.