Diet, Obesity, and Cardiovascular Risk

Abstract

The growing prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes in the United States has attracted the attention and concern of the medical profession, the media, policymakers, and the American public. Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that nearly two thirds of American adults are overweight (body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], greater than 25) and more than 30 percent are frankly obese (body-mass index, greater than 30), that nearly 8 percent are diabetic, and that 24 percent have the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome is an . . .