[Obesity--a public health problem and challenge].

Obesity is a major health problem today that grows into a global epidemic. According to the World Health Organization report, 1.5 billion adults were overweight, over 500 million of them were obese, and the prevalence of obesity is expected to rise in the years to come. A similar situation is recorded in Croatia, where there are 25.3% of obese men and 34.1% of obese women. There are multiple factors that cause obesity. Accelerated lifestyle, fast food, unhealthy eating habits and sedentary lifestyle are considered as the major risk factors of overweight and obesity development. Accumulation of fat tissue, especially visceral fat tissue has been demonstrated to be associated with some chronic changes and diseases of different organ systems. Some anthropometric measurements, especially body mass index, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, have been used to diagnose obesity and estimate the health risk. Developing well-structured prevention programs that would encourage people to become aware of obesity as a disease and that imbalanced dietary habits and physical activity are important for obesity prevention and health, is a major public health challenge.