Obesity: a global epidemic that threatens adults, adolescents and children
Polikandrioti Maria
Over the last years, obesity has become a major public health-hazard with epidemic proportions that affects adults, adolescents and children of both genders. Rates of obesity have been dramatically increased in adult population in many countries since the 1960s, most noticeably in the United States, Eastern Europe and Mediterranean countries. A similar trend became evident in children and adolescents at about 1980 and increased dramatically by the late 1990s. The frequency of its occurence has been raised tremendously in the United States of America but also in Europe, with girls wielding the sceptres to this negative evolution. Consequently, nowadays obesity in early age and in adolescence constitutes a worldwide threat.
