Answer to Question 1
The American Heart Association has identified obesity as one of the six major risk factors for coronary heart disease. Estimates by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) also indicate that 122,000 yearly cancer deaths could be prevented if Americans were not overweight or obese. Obesity in itself has been linked to nine different cancers: colorectal, esophageal, postmenopausal breast, endometrial, kidney, pancreatic, ovarian, gallbladder and advanced prostate cancer. Excessive body weight also is implicated in psychological maladjustment and a higher accidental death rate. Extremely obese people have a lower mental health related quality of life.
Research indicates that individuals who are 30 or more pounds overweight during middle age (30 to 49 years of age) lose about 7 years of life; whereas being 10 to 30 pounds overweight decreases the lifespan by about 3 years. Severe obesity (BMI greater than 45) at a young age, nonetheless, may cut up to 20 years off one's life. Although the loss of years of life is significant, the decreased life expectancy doesn't even begin to address the loss in quality of life, considerably compromised by obesity, and increased illness and disability throughout the years.
Answer to Question 2
b
Obesity Map of US
Obesity Rates in United States
Creeping Obesity
The consequences of crossover in the inversion loop in pericentric inversion heterozygotes
The functional consequences of mutation
Overweight individual with acanthosis nigricans