TY - JOUR T1 - THe metabolic syndrome and obesity AU - Colman E Y1 - 2009/04/15 N1 - 10.1001/jama.2009.562 JO - JAMA SP - 1602 EP - 1608 VL - 301 IS - 15 N2 - During the past 5 decades, unhealthy degrees of adiposity have been variously characterized as overweight, moderate overweight, severe overweight, unhealthy weight, preobese, obese, and extreme obesity. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute currently defines obesity as a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30 (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared). Individuals with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 are considered overweight. Throughout his book, Bray uses “overweight” to describe the condition he previously called “obese” (ie, BMI >30) and uses “clinically overweight” to describe individuals with weight-related comorbid conditions. He opts for the new terminology out of deference to patients who consider the word “obese” pejorative. In this review, I adhere to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute definitions of overweight and obesity. SN - 0098-7484 M3 - doi: 10.1001/jama.2009.562 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2009.562 ER -