Document resource
Global obesity rates are rising, with an estimated 64.5% of adults over 40 in the UK classified as overweight or obese.1 Obesity is recognised as a disease in itself, which follows a predictable clinical course including liver, renal and cardiac dysfunction, musculoskeletal injury (MSKI), type 2 diabetes, infertility, asthma, obstructive sleep apnoea and several cancers. The cause of the obesity pandemic is complex and incompletely understood, but there is an increasing consensus that its basis lies in biology (the interaction of genes and the environment), rather than simply being about choices, willpower or education. Although Armed Forces personnel appear to be at significantly lower risk of adiposity than the general population, the implications of being overweight are high in occupations which require physical fitness and remote employment.2 3