Of course, not all fat adults were fat when they were babies. Excess food and excess drink taken for social reasons or because they are enjoyed, rather than because of hunger, supply more energy than is needed for daily activities and this is turned into fat.
As a man (or a woman) grows older, the energy needed for the basal body functions decreases, so that even if he keeps to the same diet, he is likely to put on weight. This is recognized in tables of ideal weight.
If a man is obese does it matter? It does. Obesity is a health hazard! Obese people are more likely to develop gall-bladder disease and arthritis. Obese people are more likely to become diabetics. Obese people are more likely to develop high blood pressure. And obesity adds indirectly to the risk of having a heart attack.
In our society, a large proportion of the population is overweight and an important minority is obese. Investigations in the U.S.A. and Britain show that nearly 30 per cent of men are overweight and about 12 per cent are obese. (An even larger proportion of women is overweight and obese, but that is not really relevant to our present discussion.)
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