Obesity among EU citizens, including children is rising at an alarming rate. This phenomenon is linked with potentially fatal health problems, including cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers. The EU has launched a series of initiatives designed to meet the problem head-on, helping customers to make informed nutritional choices, encouraging an active lifestyle and improving the health of young people. Rezumat: Obezitatea în rândul populaţiei Uniunii Europene, inclusiv în rândul copiilor,

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... eşte cu un ritm alarmant. Acest fenomen este legat de potenţialele probleme de sănătate care pot fi fatale, cum ar fi: bolile de inimă şi anumite tipuri de cancer. Uniunea Europeană a lansat o serie de iniţiative în spijinul acestei probleme, ajutând consumatorii să fie informaţi în alegerea alimentaţiei, încurajând un stil de viaţă activ şi îmbunătăţind starea de sănătate a tinerilor. Cuvinte cheie: obezitate, iniţiative, Uniunea Europeană, stare de sănătate, tineri The excessive intake of food with high energetic value and the low energy expenditure bring about a surplus of energy stored under the form of additional body fat. This is the mechanism that generates obesity, which has known a significant increase in the last decades, under the influence of a number of economic, social and psychological factors, becoming a priority in the filed of public health. The prevalence of the obese people has dramatically increased in the last 30 years. In 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared obesity as "the biggest threat West is confronting with". This increasing tendency of obesity, with all its personal and social repercussions, require a multifactorial and multidisciplinary approach, as well as independent actions undertaken at country, community even at individual level. Governments play a central part regarding the collaboration with other stakeholders, with a view to create an environment meant to strengthen and encourage the individuals, their families and communities to take positive decisions regarding the improvement of the life quality, all of them under the appanage of a healthy lifestyle. Who is "obese" and why? One of the measures that establish obesity is determining the body mass index (BMI), expressed as the relation between the weight expressed in kilograms and the height expressed in metres square. Thus, a BMI over 30 suggests obesity, while the people with a BMI over 25 are considered overweight. Obesity factors • Poor nutrition: across the EU, individuals are consuming around 500 calories per day more than they did 40 years ago.(1) • Lack of exercise: more than one in three EU citizens do not exercise in their leisure time and the average European spends over 5 hours a day sitting down.(2) • Genetic factors: for example, an absence of the hormone leptin, secreted by fatty tissue to inform the brain of the amount of fat stored, can provoke severe obesity.(3) Why is obesity a cause for concern? The main arguments are: • There are over 1 billion overweight adults around the globe, including 300 million obese adults. • In the EU, it is estimated that over 200 million adults may be overweight or obese / that is over half of the adult population. • One quarter of European schoolchildren are now overweight or obese, maybe more than previously predicted. The figure is growing by 400 000 each year and is causing great concern. • 3 million schoolchildren in the EU are now classed as obese-a figure that is increasing annually by 85 000. Research show that these young people are likely to develop chronic diseases before or during early adulthood.(4) • The link between excess weight and health problems is clear, as over a third of the EU citizens who suffer from a long term disease are overweight.(2) • Obesity can cause a range of very serious physical and mental health problems, ranging from diabetes to cancers, heart diseases, infertility to psychological disorders. • Obesity can cause a range of very serious physical