WHETHER ONE IS READING RECENT RE-ports from the Centers for Dis-ease Control and
Prevention, articles in the scientific literature or popular press, or just glancing around and
looking at people in the subway or the shopping mall, it is apparent that there is a major
epidemic in America: obesity! Obesity is a disease that, in just the past few decades, has
been rising dramatically in developed countries and reached epidemic levels in the United
States. Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Program (available at: www. cdc …