The 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines refer to the need to avoid or limit “Discretionary choices” – i.e. foods and beverages that are not an essential or necessary part of our dietary patterns.
Discretionary foods and beverages are high in kilojoules, saturated fat, added sugars, added salt or alcohol. If chosen, they should be consumed only sometimes and in small amounts.

Obesity has increased worldwide during the past 30 years in all divisions of society. In 2010, overweight and obesity were estimated to cause 3.4 million deaths, 3.9% of years of life lost, and 3.8% of disability-adjusted life-years worldwide, with major healthcare costs implicated.

Is sugar in the diet driving the obesity crisis?

Clarksdale, a storied delta town that gave us the golden age of the Delta blues, its cotton fields and flatlands rolling to the river, its Victorian mansions still beautiful, is at the center of a colossal American health crisis. High rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease: the legacy, some experts say, of sugar, a crop that brought the ancestors of most Clarksdale residents to this hemisphere in chains.

Both fat and sugar are important contributors to obesity in children and teenagers, rather than sugar alone, according to new research from The University of Western Australia.

Childhood obesity is the condition of being severely overweight between the ages of 2 and 19 years. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines overweight as “having an excess body weight for a particular height.” The excess weight can come from bone, fat, muscle, water, or a combination of all four. Obesity is defined as “having excess body fat.”

Obesity, defined as a body mass index of 30 or greater, is an epidemic in the United States and other industrialized nations, and it is rapidly becoming one in developing nations. As countries transition to westernized lifestyles, obesity tends to increase. Obesity rates vary from as little as 2 percent in some Asian countries to as much as 75 percent in some Pacific nations. There are more than 300 million obese persons in the world, and more than 750 million overweight persons.

Obesity is an excess of body fat, and it's one of the most common health problems in the United States. About one-third of all American adults are considered to be obese. Obesity is measured using a scale called a body mass index, or BMI, which is calculated using your weight and height. A BMI higher than 30 is classified as obese.

Obesity is the excessive accumulation of body fat. It is usually caused by the consumption of more calories than the body can use.

Obesity is the condition of having an excessive amount of body fat. Obesity increases a person's risk for many conditions and diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), arthritis, and cancer.