• Main Author: M. Goguen
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canada; Northwest Territories; Nunavut
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.495.5420; http://www.endocrinologyupdate.ca/crus/218-012_english.pdf

The obesity epidemic The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically throughout the world, resulting in an increase in the complica-tions associated with obesity, especially type 2 diabetes melli-tus (T2 DM).This epidemic of obesity is the direct result of the “toxic ” Westernized lifestyle that promotes poor eating habits and inadequate exercise due to urban planning that values con-venience over healthy lifestyle. Data from the USA, as well as Canada and other countries around the world, reveal the trend towards obesity and illustrate that there has been a dramatic rise in the proportion of obese individuals over the past 20 years. In the USA, the prevalence of obesity is 20%-25 % in most states and, in some, it is>25%. In Canada, over 20 % of the population in the Maritime provinces, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut are obese.1 Worldwide, over 1.1 billion people are