The number of people suffering from
obesity has risen dramatically over the past decades. In
2022, 2.5 billion adults aged 18 years and older were overweight, including
over 890 million adults who were living with obesity. This corresponds to 43%
of adults aged 18 years and over (43% of men and 44% of women) who were
overweight. Obesity is in turn causing a
rise in Type II Diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, fatty liver disease, kidney
disease, gall stones, asthma, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, back pain, gout, and
mobility disorders and depression. Heightened risk of Alzheimer’s Disease,
depression, Polycystic ovarian disease and infertility, and certain cancers
like esophageal, pancreatic, colorectal, breast, uterine and ovarian are also
encountered in obese individuals
https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2018/06/why-are-you-getting-fat_4.html
and in yet another blog discussed
Childhood Obesity:
https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2023/04/childhood-obesity-alarm-bells-should.html
Obesity can be
·
Class 1 (low-risk) obesity,
if BMI is 30.0 to 34.9.
·
Class 2 (moderate-risk)
obesity, if BMI is 35.0 to 39.9.
·
Class 3 (high-risk) obesity,
if BMI is equal to or greater than 40.0.
And a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is
overweight, just short of obese. Health professionals often refer to class III
obesity as “morbid” because it was most likely to come with related health
problems. However, they retired the term because of its negative connotations.
Sadly, our understanding of this health issue is often lacking and it only magnifies the stigma and increases the risk of the so-called obesity epidemic spreading even further. As a matter of fact, there are a number of pervasive myths surrounding obesity that are just not true and have been debunked by science a long time ago. For example, the fact that obesity runs in the family doesn’t mean that you’re bound to get it is a complete myth, as is the belief that the number of pounds you lose is the best measure of success.
1. Eating
less and exercising is enough to combat obesity
While it is certainly true that many people develop obesity as a result of eating too many calories and not moving around enough, there are also many other factors that could make a person develop obesity. For example, things like insufficient sleep, chronic pain, hormone issues, some medications, and even stress can make you gain excess weight. In most cases, obesity is a combination of several different factors that can interact and multiply each other. For example, chronic stress and psychological problems can make people more prone to overeating, which can exacerbate the issue. An effort should be made to distinguish between hunger and boredom, and eat only when hungry and not when there is nothing else to do. Therefore, while managing one’s caloric intake and increasing activity levels is certainly part of treating obesity, it is often not enough on its own.
2. The number of pounds you lost is the best evidence of
success
In many people’s minds, combating
obesity boils down to weight loss and the number of pounds or kilograms you
lose. However, this type of excessive focus on weight loss and your progress on
the scale is not only psychologically unhealthy but is also not particularly
helpful. On one hand, focusing on the number of kilograms you lose can make you
obsessed with the scale, which has been shown scientifically to increase one’s
risk of stress and eating disorders. On the other hand, weight loss is not a
good measure of health. Therefore, the best strategy for people suffering from
obesity with long-term success in mind is to focus on healthy nutrition,
exercise, and other recommendations given to you by doctors and nutrition
experts. Over time, your doctor should observe improvements in your blood biochemistry and blood pressure, and you will most likely feel changes in your mental
health, sleep quality, and physical activity. Even weight loss of 5–10% of your
total body weight is likely to produce health benefits, such as improvements in
blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood sugars. These positive health
effects are the best possible sign that you’re on the right path.
3. Obesity doesn’t cause ill-health
It is certainly true that obesity on its
own doesn’t cause diabetes and cardiovascular issues, but this doesn’t mean
that obesity doesn’t influence your health either. For example, it is a known
and well-researched fact that obesity multiplies one’s risk of developing such
serious conditions, as hypertension and cardiovascular disease, stroke,
gallbladder disease, diabetes, arthritis, mental health issues, and sleep
apnea. Obesity has a direct correlation with increased mortality rates.
Therefore, treating obesity is extremely important for maintaining your
long-term health and addressing already-existing health issues.
4. Obesity is strictly genetic
Many people think that they’re bound to
develop obesity at one point in their life if their family members have it. But
obesity isn’t the same as body type and it’s more closely related to the amount
of excess body fat, particularly visceral body fat than it is to body shape.
That said, there is a genetic component to obesity, and researchers have tried
to count the number of genes that influence one’s risk of obesity.
Studies have managed to identify over 50
genes linked to obesity, but most of these genes have a very minor effect. The
specific gene variant most prominently associated with obesity is the FTO
variant, which has been proven to increase the odds of developing the disease
by 1.23-fold.The research involved 218 thousand adults, and one of the most
interesting findings was that the people who had this gene variant but were
physically active had a 27% decreased chance to suffer from obesity. Twin
studies comparing twins brought up separately to those raised together likewise
confirm that genetic similarities have little or no influence compared to the
environment.
5. Making fruits and vegetables more affordable will solve
global obesity
It has been long observed that obesity
is becoming increasingly widespread in areas where fresh produce like fruit and
vegetables are scarce. As a result, some people started to think that making
fresh plant-based foods available is enough to stop obesity in these areas.
Unfortunately, though, attempts of making these foods available and cheaper
in so-called "food deserts" have shown that these attempts are not so
effective on their own, after all. Instead, research confirms that making
fruits and vegetables available together with promoting healthy eating habits
in families and widespread education about healthy nutrition is the only way to
reduce the spread of obesity consistently and effectively.
6. You lose fat by converting it into energy or muscle
This is simply not true. Fat is
converted to carbon dioxide and water. You exhale the carbon dioxide and the
water mixes into your circulation until it’s lost in urine or sweat. If you
lose 10 kg (22 lbs) of fat, precisely 8.4 kg (18.5 lbs) comes out through your
lungs and the remaining 1.6 kg (3.5 lbs) turns into water. In other words,
nearly all the weight we lose is exhaled. While this might surprise
people, almost everything that we eat comes back out via the lungs. For
example, all the carbohydrates you digest and nearly all the fats are converted
to water and carbon dioxide. The same goes for protein and alcohol, apart
from a small amount of the former that is turned into urea and other solids,
and excreted as urine. Only food that makes it to your colon undigested is
dietary fiber, such as sweet corn. The rest is absorbed into the bloodstream
and organs.
In any case, we should
definitely stop thinking of obesity as an issue of lazy or poor people, as
it seems to be a systemic and complex issue that goes beyond personal choices.
Yes, obesity
is mainly caused by imbalanced energy intake and expenditure due to a sedentary
lifestyle coupled with over-nutrition, but the story is much more complex and
goes well beyond this simple explanation.
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