World Obesity Day 2024: Obesity And Related Health Problems

Does the constant increase in weight and inability to fit into your clothes keep bothering you? A couple of extra pounds of body fat is not a health risk for most people. But when people are severely overweight, it translates into obesity. Obesity is believed to be a chronic health condition that may continue or have been continuing over time.  It is defined as excessive body fat (known as adipose tissue) that may impair health. This excess body fat is considered to be a harmful amount of body fat. It poses a higher health risk as such a condition attracts many prolonged diseases.  India stands at rank 182 out of 197 countries in the world for the prevalence of obesity in women and 180 for men in 2022.

Table Of Contents

1. How Does Obesity Affect Health And Well-Being?

2. 3 Main Causes Of Obesity 

3. The Final Say

4. FAQs

5. References

How Does Obesity Affect Health And Well-Being?

Obesity is not just restricted to appearance but obesity puts a strain on the bones and organs. The imbalance between what you eat and not really using the energy or burning those calories is possibly the main cause of excessive overweight and obesity. It also causes complex changes in hormones as well as metabolism and escalates inflammation in the body. People who suffer from obesity have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. Obesity and health risks are co-related and can also make you prone to a number of health issues, from heart disease, diabetes, liver diseases and sleep apnea.

Let’s understand how obesity affects health and well-being. Here are some of the health issues which may be caused due to obesity:

1. Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the most common occurrence in obese people. It is when your blood sugar tends to be higher than normal blood sugar levels. Over time, this can lead to other serious health issues like nerve damage, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and vision problems, to name a few. Insulin resistance is the most common phenomenon caused due to obesity. It tends to happen when cells no longer respond to the signals from insulin. This makes the pancreas work harder to produce sufficient insulin to maintain blood sugar levels. In order to try to lower blood sugar levels, the liver sends blood sugars in bulk to fat cells, which reserve it as body fat. Over time, the pancreas loses its capability to release insulin, which can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes. If you have, particularly around your abdomen area, some excess fat, it tends to contribute to inflammation which may cause type 2 diabetes majorly. 

2. High Blood Pressure

The quantity of fat in your diet may have a larger impact on weight than the impact of its calories. The majority of calories containing fat are immediately stored in fat cells that add to the body's weight, and they expand and multiply, while carbohydrates such as bread, cereals, fruits, and vegetables, as well as proteins, are converted to fuel almost immediately following consumption. Further, fat in the body results in excessive and higher levels, which are way higher than the normal level of cholesterol in the blood (hypercholesterolemia). Depending on the balance between the ratio of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, fat present in the blood circulation can immediately affect certain organs, such as the liver and kidneys. The extra fat tissue in the body requires more oxygen and nutrients. The increase in the amount of blood circulation puts additional pressure on the walls of your arteries. This added pressure is known as high blood pressure or hypertension. With time, high blood pressure can damage your heart and arteries.

3. Heart Disease

Heart disease is more common in people who are obese. Unhealthy eating and no regular burning of that energy can result in fatty deposits that may accumulate in the arteries that are designated to supply blood to the heart. People who are obese have higher blood pressure than the normal standards, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, as well as blood sugar, all of which contribute to heart disease. Excess weight can make your heart have to work more than usual to send blood to all the cells in your body. The rise in the amount of blood circulation puts additional pressure on the walls of your arteries. Arteries tend to become narrow and can lead to a heart attack.

4. Stroke

Obesity is one of the most common phenomena resulting in stroke, and stroke is the second leading cause of death. Its frequency has increased recently in countries with low and middle income and decreased in countries with high- income which could be due to lifestyle changes leading to obesity. Stroke and heart disease share many similar risk factors. Strokes mainly occur when the blood supply to the brain is shut due to blood clots in narrow arteries. Usually, the symptoms include extreme weakness, numbness, and visual alterations. A stroke can injure your brain tissue and result in a certain number of disorders, including weakened muscles, speech and language impairment, and changes to thinking and reasoning skills.

5. Sleep Apnea

Obesity is often associated with poor sleep quantity and quality. It is a disorder in which someone may momentarily stop breathing during sleep. Generally, in obese people, fat deposits in the upper respiratory tract narrow the airway; the muscle activity in this region decreases, leading to hypoxic and apneic episodes, ultimately resulting in sleep apnea. If you are someone who is usually overweight and living an obese life, you are more prone to sleep apnea. It is because they tend to have more fat stored around the neck area, making the airway shrink which results in snoring, and you may face difficulty in breathing at night. In order to prevent sleep apnea, you should focus on losing weight around your neck and region. Sleep apnea can cause fatigue, increase the risk of high blood pressure, and heart and lung problems during pregnancy.

6. Liver Disease

If you are struggling with obesity, you are more prone to having a liver disease called fatty liver disease or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which constitutes a serious threat. This tends to happen when excess fat builds up in the liver. This excess fat causes scar tissue to grow, known as cirrhosis and tends to damage the liver. Even in cases of acute liver failure, a high body mass index is connected with poor outcomes, and obesity plays a major role in the development of dreadful hepatitis B, and C. Fatty liver disease usually has no major symptoms, but it can lead to liver failure eventually. You can manage or reverse the disease to lose weight, exercise, and restrict yourself from drinking alcohol.

7. Gallbladder Diseases

The gallbladder is in control for storing a substance called bile and passing it to the small intestine during digestion. Bile helps you digest fats in the body. Obesity Enhances your chances of developing gallstones. Gallstones occur when bile builds up and hardens in the gallbladder. Gallbladder disease is evident by the presence of gallstones that can be detected via ultrasound. The most prevalent symptom of gallstones is periodic pain that occurs when gallstones block the outlet of the gallbladder. People with obesity may have large gallbladders that don’t work well or increased levels of cholesterol in their bile, which can lead to gallstones. Gallstones can be painful and require surgery.

8. Cancers

Being overweight and obese can cause major changes in the body, including higher than normal levels of insulin, insulin-like growth factor,  long-lasting inflammation and sex hormones. These changes may lead to cancer. The risk of cancer is higher with the more excess weight a person gains or possesses and the longer a person is overweight. Obesity can make you more prone to having cancers, including colon, breast, pancreatic, gallbladder, kidney, and prostate cancer, including cancer in the uterus, cervix, endometrium, and ovaries. If you are overweight or obese, that does not necessarily mean that someone will definitely get cancer but it's just that you are more prone to it. So, the focus should be to keep a healthy weight and stay fit.

9. Pregnancy Complications

Pregnant women who are obese are more prone to high blood pressure, high blood sugar and insulin resistance. High blood pressure that starts during the second half of pregnancy is called gestational hypertension. Preeclampsia is also an issue; pregnant women with obesity may develop. It is said to be a serious form of gestational hypertension that mostly happens in the second or third trimester of pregnancy or soon after childbirth. This condition can cause your kidneys and liver to fail. 

Other risks include growth problems for the foetus or problems with the placenta. Another phenomenon known as Gestational diabetes, i.e., high levels of glucose (blood sugar) during pregnancy, increases the risk of having a very large baby and also increases the chance of caesarean birth. Some major health risks associated with obesity in pregnant women are miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, defects of the brain and spinal cord etc. If you’re overweight or obese and are thinking about having a baby, start with a weight loss plan to avoid the above mentioned health crisis. Consult your doctor about physical activity you can safely do during pregnancy.

10. Depression

Many people affected by obesity experience depression. The Impact of obesity on your body and health is equally worse. It is quite evident that you may often experience discrimination based on your body size in everyday life. Eventually, this can lead to feelings of sadness or lack of self-worth affecting mental health. This negative feeling can cause anxiety, and you often tend to overeat to get over any comments. Discriminating based on body weight and calling names based on body size leaves an impact, causing stress and depression.

3 Main Causes Of Obesity 

1. Lack Of Physical Activity

Relying on restricting your food habits or controlling your diet may not be enough to battle obesity and the health problems associated with it. There has to be a balance between healthy eating and working out in order to reduce weight. A weight loss program based just on diet would prove to be ineffective if there is a lack of combined physical activity, which may be due to increasing screen time, hectic schedules, irregular sleep, etc. 

Most adults need at least two and a half hours of aerobic activity a week. It is also suggested that adults do muscle-strengthening activities for major muscle groups for at least 5 days a week, as these activities can additionally benefit your health. Children should get 60 minutes of aerobic activity each day. If you are someone who is struggling with obesity and health issues, start with brisk walking leading to weight loss exercises. Slowly build your weight loss regimen with a healthy diet plus workout plans.

2. Unhealthy Eating Patterns

If you are not watching your calorie intake, eating too much saturated fats or eating foods that have high sugar composition in them, you may be leading an unhealthy lifestyle. The number of calories you need will vary based on your sex, age, and the amount of physical activity you do. The quantity of saturated fat in your daily diet should not be more than 10% of your total calorie intake.

 For a 3,000-calorie diet, that’s about 300 calories or about 33 grams of saturated fat. While on a daily basis, limit the amount of added sugar in your diet to not more than 10% of your calorie intake. Heavily processed foods are even more harmful. Most processed foods cannot resemble whole foods at all. These are highly manipulated products designed to get people hooked on them.

3. Genetics

Obesity has a strong genetic element. Children with parents who are obese are much more likely to have obesity than children of lean parents, and we know that's just sad. That doesn’t mean that obesity and health effects associated with it are completely based on that. What you eat can have a major effect on which genes will play an important role and which genes will not. You may rapidly develop obesity when you start eating a typical Western diet. In this case, your genes didn’t change, but the environment and the signals you sent to your genes did. Genetic components do affect your chances of gaining weight but do not necessarily become the only reason for you to gain weight. It also depends on your lifestyle. But the focus should always be the prevention of obesity.

The Final Say

Obesity is clearly obtained by consuming an excess of calories which means more than the ideal amount of calories that gets stored as fat tissue. Genetics may be a determinant for weight gain; however, it may not be the only factor that leads to the development of obesity because your eating habits and your patterns of physical activity also play a more significant role in the amount of weight gained or inherited. In addition, a sedentary lifestyle, as well as psychological factors such as depression, low esteem, or absence of night sleep, can also largely contribute to weight gain. It looks like we are moving towards an obesity epidemic.

Therefore, there is a need to elucidate the relationship between obesity and most diseases is progressively increasing. So, you must watch out for what you eat, keep a calorie count and exercise regularly.

FAQs

1. How is obesity bad for your health?

Obesity results in various health-related issues like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes, etc.

2. How does obesity affect the health and well-being of a person?

Obesity not only disrupts your appearance but also hampers the internal organs of your body as well as it may lead to depression.

3. What are overweight and obesity?

Someone whose BMI is more than the ideal range for one’s height is considered to be overweight, while obesity is referred to as abnormal and excessive buildup of fat throughout the body.

4. Health Problems Related to Obesity

Obesity causes various health issues such as Liver disease, type 2 diabetes, Gallbladder disease, certain cancers, sleep apnea, depression, etc.

5. Can you be overweight and healthy?

Yes, you can be overweight and still be healthy at the same time. This means your BMI can be high, but metabolically, you could be healthy.

References

• https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/obesity-and-diabetes#weight-management

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7946563/

• https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/obesity/index.htm

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