The Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity
Overweight and obesity is a health concern since many years ago because they are a risk factor of many diseases such as diabetes, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions. According to World Health Organization (WHO), there are as high as 39% of adults were overweight and 18% of children or adolescents were overweight. This is a global alarming issue.
BMI is commonly use to measure whether a person is overweight or obese. It is defined as a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters (kg/m2). Adult is considered as overweight when your BMI range between 25-30kg/m2. Obesity is defined as BMI 30kg/m2 or more. So, how did body weight affect our health?
1. High blood pressure
Extra fat tissue need more oxygen and nutrient to live, so blood vessels have higher workload in order to deliver more blood to these fat tissues. More circulating blood means higher pressure of blood on artery wall. There comes higher blood pressure in obesity people. Besides, obesity is found to affect renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system which control the blood volume of the body. It controls the level of sodium and water retention in the body. Obesity can disrupt the proper regulation of blood pressure by this system.
2. Dyslipidemia (high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol or high triglycerides)
Approximately two-third of obese patient are dyslipidemic. There are two main form of cholesterol in our body: low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL). Cholesterol is transported in the blood through lipoprotein. LDL cholesterol is often referred as “bad cholesterol” because it might leads to accumulation of fats in the arteries. When the arteries are narrowed, it increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. HDL cholesterol is the good cholesterol which protect us from heart disease and stroke. It acts as a scavenger in the bloodstream. Hence, higher level of HDL cholesterol will reduce the risk of heart disease. Triglycerides is main type of fat in our body. It comes from the excess energy in our diet. High level of triglycerides together with high LDL choleterol is associated with higher risk of heart disease. Obesity will induce changes in lipoprotein metabolism which involved uptake, storage and transport of lipids.
3. Diabetes
As high as 90% of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus are obese or overweight. Obese patient are at a higher risk to develop diabetes especially when their abdominal fat is high. Insulin is the body hormone secreted by pancreas beta cell in order to utilize glucose in the food or store the excess energy for future use. In obese patient, insulin secretion is normal but body cells are no longer sensitive to insulin. Therefore, large amount of glucose obtained from meal remain in the bloodstream and cannot be utilized by body cells. This translate to insulin resistance and persistently high concentration of glucose in blood. This is why glucose metabolism is disrupted in obese patient.
4. Coronary artery disease (CAD)
Obesity is an significant risk factor for coronary artery disease. CHD is a disease where fatty deposits accumulate and form a plaque inside the coronary arteries. These arteries are responsible for transporting oxygen-rich blood to the heart. When the plaque builds up, it is called atherosclerosis. Plaque is also made up from clotting substance (fibrin), cholesterol, fat and waste products. It occurs gradually over many years and generally does not cause symptoms until old age. When the blood supply to the heart is insufficient due to narrowed arteries, symptoms such as chest pain and shortness of breath might occur. If the plaque is big enough to block the artery completely, then heart attack will occur.
Therefore, maintaining a healthy body weight is important if you want to live in healthy. Being overweight and obese not only have cosmetic issue but also harm you health which contributes to lower quality of life (QOL) and shorten length of life.
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Helpful Post,
i think you write more article on health 😍
Maybe article about health is one of the popular articles =)
How to determine if excess weight? Where to start the process of struggle against excess weight? Of course, with attempts to define its presence. It would be wrong to do it "by eye", as is often the conclusion about the presence of overweight is premature. This is due to the standards that are imposed to us modern mass culture. The obsession with fighting non-existent "obesity" leads to various diseases, e.g., anorexia and/or bulimia. The causes of such unfortunate consequences: the abuse of numerous "magic remedies", Badami and unbalanced diets. In Russia, overweight rarely seen as a problem, which should go to the doctors. This further exacerbates the problem. To determine excess weight there is an indicator called body mass index (BMI). To calculate the BMI, divide weight (in kilograms) by height squared (in meters). If your BMI is between 19 and 25, overweight problems have not. A BMI of 25 to 30 indicates overweight, over 30 is obese. Causes of overweight Obesity are divided into primary and symptomatic, when the extra weight is a symptom of another disease. The primary causes of overweight are: genetic predisposition, excessive consumption of food and lack of exercise. With regard to heredity, the scientists agree that there is a greater or lesser genetic predisposition to weight gain, but genetic factors are always implemented in close connection with the way of life. Before "blaming genetics", it should be noted that often a greater impact still have the family eating habits that are passed down from generation to generation. And habits is something we can change. The same applies to a sedentary lifestyle. The conclusion is simple: everything is in your hands. However, do not own to struggle with excess weight. It is better to entrust to professionals. Some medicines can also lead to an increase in body fat. These include corticosteroids, female-hormonal agents, antidepressants, etc. Taking these drugs should always be by appointment and under the supervision of a physician. Excess weight may be the result of some pathological conditions such as dysfunction of the thyroid or pituitary gland, hypoplasia of the sex glands, Cushing's disease and damage to nerve cells in the hypothalamus. The effects of excess weight Excess weight is often a cause of a violation of many body functions. First and foremost, excessive weight increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Excess body weight has a negative impact on the musculoskeletal system, causing the deformity, osteoarthritis of large joints and other violations. Excess weight leads to various metabolic disorders, resulting in can develop atherosclerosis and diabetes. Prevention of overweight People with a tendency to overweight, one should balance the amount of food consumed and the level of physical activity. The diet should be balanced. The increase in physical activity, exercise needs to go along with the change in diet. It is important to understand what exactly happened in your case, the main factor of weight gain – a change in diet or decrease exercise. Then you will be able to find the optimal solution, which is perfect for you. Another essential element of prevention that is often overlooked is regular screening and testing. Such measures will help to identify and solve the problem at the early stages of its occurrence.
Exactly. BMI is a standard for us to determines whether we are overweight. But Asian people tend to have lower BMI compare to Caucasian. Ladies always go for extremely thin because of the perception: the thinner the prettier. This might be due to overly thin fashion model is always more popular than fashion model with healthy weight
By the way, thanks for adding more important information about obesity
Simply enough, giving your body some rests by not eating heavily each meal and doing physical exercise on a regular basis may help reduce risks of obesity.
Exactly, eat a balanced diet is one of the healthy lifestyles that we all should practice in our daily life
well done nice post
Thanks for it!
Appreciation goes to @lovejuice for her effort to promote minnow article and it really motivates me. Thank you =)
It also affects your spine,your lungs and not to forget, but your mind as well. Too much of a good thing is always bad.
Totally agree, being obese impact our health because it bring burden to our internal organ as well. In terms of cosmetic issues, obese person tend to have lower self-esteem.
Wow we should always keep our health not to be like that!
Wow.