Research shows that about 75% of the people in the developed nations suffer from obesity. If obesity is not brought in check soon, it may lead to disorders such as high blood pressure, diabetes, chest pain, stress as well as cancer. Hence people should take utmost care to see that they are always slim and fit and they don't put on unnecessary weight.

A Canadian tribunal ordered domestic airlines Thursday to charge clinically obese or disabled passengers accompanied by an attendant only one ticket to fly, even if they take up two or more seats. ADVERTISEMENT

Under the Canadian Transportation Agency ruling, airlines have one year to bring in a "one-person-one-fare" policy for persons with severe disabilities who require two seats to accommodate them.

It also applies to disabled persons who need a medical attendant seated with them on flights.

San Francisco Public Health officials will be offering classes in 2008 focusing on the growing obesity problem among children ages 8 to 13, according to organizers.

Classes will begin Jan. 25 at the Chinatown Public Health Center every Friday for 12 weeks, according to officials. Classes will be offered in Cantonese for parents and English or Cantonese for children, assistant health educator Linda Kwan said.

Public health officials are launching the classes as part of the We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition!) program created by the National Institutes of Health, Kwan said.

Very obese people who need a kidney transplant are far less likely to get one than normal weight people, and when they do, their wait is an average of a year to 18 months longer, a new study found.

The reason seems to be both economic and medical. Very obese people have a greater risk for complications, and the transplant centers often must bear the additional cost of treating those problems.

Twin brothers are pound-by-pound the biggest winners on NBC's "The Biggest Loser."

Bill Germanakos, a 41-year-old medical salesman from Lynbrook, N.Y., lost 164 pounds, slimming down from 334 pounds to 170 pounds over an eight-month period to win the televised weight-loss competition. He took home the $250,000 grand prize.

His brother, Jim, a police officer from Massapequa, N.Y., won the weigh-in among previously eliminated contestants, dropping 186 pounds. He went from 361 pounds to 175 pounds. He earned a $100,000 prize.