As part of a person's physiological make-up, a certain quantity of fat is needed in the body. Body fat fulfills a vital and necessary role in ensuring a person is kept in good physical condition and its presence is considered by nutritionists and the medical profession as being one of the vital aspects of a healthy and balanced diet.

However, a person can take in too much fat from eating a regular diet high in calories and over-saturated fatty food. This together with a life-style lacking in regular physical exercise is responsible for causing a person to be overweight, and a person grossly overweight is known by the medical term as obese.

An acute form of obesity, that is when a person is so overweight it affects their day to day activities, is known as morbid obesity, a condition that can lead to many life threatening situations.

What are the specific causes of obesity, and what risks are associated with this condition?

With a regular diet of healthy food eaten in moderate portions, fat will be absorbed into the body as a normal matter of course, whilst the excess fat that the body cannot use is worked off during a person's daily routine.

But those people who live on an unhealthy diet of 'junk' food; high calorie, sugar laden food and drinks; and food containing excessive amounts of fat are creating a health problem for themselves. As they're unable to work off all the excess fat being continually eaten, it's stored in the body as body fat and compounds the problem of being overweight and obese.

A life-style of constant unhealthy food and drink, with no regular exercise can only lead to one outcome - a health crisis resulting from being overweight. And the only way to address this problem is to make some life-style changes - eat a more nutritious and healthy diet; exercise daily; consult a medical professional.

The incidence of obesity through out the world has been increasing steadily in the last 50 years, but more so in the last 20. The outlook is for further growth of this problem, caused by the ever improving living standards of non European countries, and the desire for people there to adopt western eating habits.

The recent rapid growth of this problem has led governments to accept the serious nature of the condition and the realization that they have to start making an effort to control it. Otherwise they know that obesity and its associated medical complaints will put a severe strain on their medical resources.

Its accepted by the medical community that obesity, and especially morbid obesity, increases the risks of numerous life threatening conditions, including type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Its also recognized that an obese person can expect to live 9 years less than a non-obese person.

The latest figures from the World Health Organization indicate that over 300 million people have an obesity problem and that this number is growing alarmingly each year. Whilst all western countries have this problem in varying degrees, the countries with the worst incidence are:

US with 30.9% of adults affected

UK with 22%

Australia with 20.8%

And who is responsible for this epidemic?

All aspects of society must share some blame, but the principle blame must be parents. Parents who are themselves obese will have obese children. The junk food eaten by parents will also be eaten by the whole family. As a child grows up, it picks up habits and behavioral traits from its parents and older siblings - habits that it retains for the rest of its life. Habits that eating junk food is normal; that fresh fruits and vegetables are unnecessary in a diet; that regular exercise is not needed - that its alright for children to be stuck in front of a PC all day instead of being outdoors playing games. .

The next major culprit are the 'junk' food resellers. Although they've denied responsibility in the past, its encouraging to see them offering a greater variety of healthy food, including vegetables and fruit. These businesses are now starting to accept the relationship between 'junk' food, overweight people, and lack of exercise, in their endeavor to become responsible corporate citizens.

And lastly the education system and those whose role it is to inform the public of health dangers. Physical education in schools is not given the same degree of importance it once was - either in quality or quantity. Very few schools teach and emphasize the importance and necessity of good nutritional habits, or help to reinforce the dangers of being overweight and of leading a sedentary lifestyle.

However, it seems that the alarm bells have started the authorities into action. The warnings from the medical professions have kick-started initiatives by local authorities and governments. More and more money is being applied to this problem so that in the generations to come, hopefully there'll be a decline in the incidence of this troublesome disease.