How can obesity impact a person health?

The problem of obesity is so alarming that several millions of USD is being spent on researches on the best way people can avoid it with minimum effort. It is even more alarming when the number of children becoming obsessed is put into consideration.

Currently more than 1 billion adults are overweight - and at least 300 million of them are clinically obese. According to WHO, “childhood obesity is already epidemic in some areas and on the rise in others. An estimated 22 million children under five are estimated to be overweight worldwide. According to the US Surgeon General, in the USA the number of overweight children has doubled and the number of overweight adolescents has trebled since 1980. The prevalence of obese children aged 6-to-11 years has more than doubled since the 1960s. Obesity prevalence in youths aged 12-17 has increased dramatically from 5% to 13% in boys and from 5% to 9% in girls between 1966-70 and 1988-91 in the USA. The problem is global and increasingly extends into the developing world; for example, in Thailand the prevalence of obesity in 5-to-12 year olds children rose from12.2% to 15-6% in just two years”.

The reason why this is so undesirable is because, obesity is the root cause of over 40 different illnesses and efforts to prevent it are not misplaced. Obesity can impact our health by increasing the risk of cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and digestive system diseases to name a few. The next few paragraphs look at some of the ways obesity negatively impacts on our health.

Blount's disease- Obesity is a known cause of Blount’s Disease which usually involves the lower extremities deformity mainly due to over bearing of body weight especially in bones that are still undergoing growth. However, this is one of the very minor problems of obesity.

Arthritis- Excessive weight bearing on the knee and ankle joints is a major cause of the wear and tear that occurs in joints. Any treatment of arthritis that fails to emphasis weight loss is usually an exercise in futility.

Pseudotumor cerebri- This is very rare and occurs in both teenagers and adults. It is characterized by increased intracranial pressure leading to severe headaches, vomiting and blurring of vision.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) - Obesity predisposes girls to development of cysts on the ovaries and they tend to miss their period. The hormonal changes in these kinds of people may lead to infertility. The cysts cause increase testosterone secretions which in many cases leads to hisuitism (increase hair growth in females- e.g. beards), worsening acne, and male-type baldness.

Diabetes- Obesity is the major cause of Type II or Non-insulin dependent Diabetes Mellitus also known as adult diabetes. It is common in people from 40 years of age. When there is excess body fat, insulin sensitivity of the cells is impaired and less glucose is taken up by the body cells. This causes glucose accumulation in the blood and consequently diabetes. Other problems of obesity are slipped capital femoral epiphyses, asthma, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gallstones formation, fatty liver, depression with low self esteem. Staying fit can sure avoid all of these problems and it is surely the way to go

What is obesity?

"Obesity is considered based on the weight of a person compared to the height and has become a very important parameter of determining the level of fitness in people."

An internationally accepted index used by experts to determine who is and who is not obese is called the Body Mass Index (BMI). The BMI accepted as normal, ranges between 18 and 28, and any one above the upper limit is classified as an obese person. The more obese a person is, the more likely he or she is to develop health problems.

Further grading considers the severity of obesity by classifying obesity into mild, morbid and malignant obesity. Mild obesity involving a body mass index (BMI 30+) causes less morbidity than morbid obesity (BMI 40+) or malignant obesity (BMI 50+). Malignant obesity is the most dangerous and these people are very prone to heart attacks. For example, someone who is 40 percent overweight is has a two-fold chance of dying a premature death than the other person whose BMI is within normal range. So it is an issue of life and death we are talking about.

So to simply put it, obesity is excessive body fat.

How do we calculate our BMI?

Everyone needs to be able to calculate his/her BMI in order to know when to seek medical advice. It can be calculated using weight in kg and height in meters or weight in pounds and height in inches.

The easiest way to find out your BMI is to use a BMI table for adults. There is also a handy BMI calculator at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's website. As stated before, to find your BMI, you need to know your height and your weight.

The formula is: BMI = Weight (kg)/ {Height}2 (m)

You can also take your weight in pounds, divide that number by your height in inches squared, and multiply the result by 703 to get your BMI.

That is BMI= [Weight (Ibs)/{Height}(inches)] *730

If your BMI is 25-29.9, you are in the "overweight" category and not yet obese but being at the upper limit of normal is a sign you are slowly becoming obese. There are three classes of obesity:

• Class I obesity — BMI of 30-34.9
• Class II obesity— of 35-39.9
• Class III obesity— of 40 and higher

Other classifications are Mild, Morbid and Malignant. Whatever classification you use, a BMI of 30 and above is unhealthy and that increases your weight related health risk.

Obesity Risk

Obesity therefore predisposes you to Heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, cancer of the gallbladder; breast, uterus, cervix, and ovaries (for women) and cancer of the colon; rectum, and prostate (for men). Gallstones, osteoarthritis, gout, apnea, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, pregnancy related problems, irregular menstrual cycles and infertility, psychological and social effects etc. To avoid these arrays of health risks, we must learn to eat just the amount of food the body needs. Eating too much and a sedentary lifestyle is a major culprit causing obesity.