Certain behaviours such as smoking, excessive alcohol drinking, poor eating habits and a physically inactive lifestyle multiply the risk for certain types of disease, as well as premature death. Physical activity and diet are the behaviours most closely linked to the development and maintenance of obesity, which is an important disease risk factor in its own right.
Obesity develops as a result of an energy imbalance, when energy taken in through eating exceeds energy expended during physical activity. Although genes seem to play a role, the rapid increases in obesity worldwide in recent decades cannot be explained by genetic or metabolic abnormalities alone. 1 Besides the human costs in terms of disease, premature death and quality of life; obesity, poor diet, and inactivity have severe economic consequences as they cost the economy approximately £20 billion a year (£6.6 billion–7.4 billion for obesity, 2 £8.2 billion for inactivity 3 and £4 billion for poor diet 4).
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Ebook Focus On Health Obesity, Eating And Physical Activity
