Obesity is a multifactorial chronic disease that is associated with increased risks of type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, sleep apnea, subfertility, and mortality, among other complications (1). For adults, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines "overweight" and "obesity" as having BMI of 25 kg/m 2 or more and 30 kg/m 2 or more, respectively (2). According to WHO estimates, almost four in ten adults (39%) were overweight and more than one in ten (13%) had obesity in 2016 globally (2). As BMI does not reflect fat distribution, waist circumference provides further information about patient risks of T2D, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease, which increase with increasing BMI and waist circumference category (Table 1) (1). Risks of comorbidities and cutoff points for considering therapeutic intervention differ in Asian versus non-Asian populations, with BMI of 23 to 27.5 kg/m 2 conferring increased risk and BMI of 27.5 kg/m 2 or more conferring high risk in Asian individuals (3). Members of Black and some minority ethnic groups are also at increased risk of chronic health conditions at a lower BMI than the White population (BMI < 25 kg/m 2 ) (4).The global prevalence of obesity almost tripled between 1975 and 2016 (2), and it is increasingly becoming a public health priority.Overweight and obesity are responsible for a substantial disease burden and are associated with considerable direct costs (e.g., health care expenditure) and indirect costs (e.g., loss of productivity and gross domestic product [GDP]) (5,6). In 2014, 5% of deaths worldwide were attributable to obesity (7). Health expenditure associated with overweight/obesity is estimated to account for 2% to 8% of total health expenditure, although these values may be underestimates (5).Overweight and obesity and their consequences also negatively affect