Health Risks of Obesity
Being overweight or obese does more than affect how you look...
This article discusses the health risks associated with obesity. It is more than just being overweight.
...It can affect your body's ability to fight off infection, cope with stress, digest and metabolize the foods you eat, and affect how hard your heart has to work to keep your body functioning. The more overweight a person is the more likely they are to develop health issues related to obesity. Today, more than 64 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, up 74 percent from 1991 (1). It has been concluded that the two major causes of obesity are a poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
Heart disease and stroke are among the leading causes of death in the United States. Obesity experts believe that overweight people are twice as likely to have high blood pressure as those who are not overweight. But the problem with obesity does not stop there. Doctors have linked obesity with an increased risk for developing type II diabetes, cancer, osteoarthritis, and numerous other health problems. It can even reduce your ability to reproduce or become pregnant.
Type II diabetes, also known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes accounts for more than 90 percent of all cases of diabetes (2). In this disease, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the body has a reduced sensitivity to insulin, known as insulin resistance.
- The body initially produces too much insulin in response to increased food intake from overeating.
- Over time, this causes the body to become less sensitive to the effects of insulin, resulting in the body having to produce even more insulin to help keep blood sugar levels in the normal and healthy range.
- Eventually, the pancreas wears out and no longer produces insulin, causing blood sugar levels to remain above the normal and healthy range.
Prolonged exposure to high blood glucose has been linked to heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and poor circulation in the extremities, requiring amputations.
A large body of research suggests that chronic inflammation is a major cause of aging and many degenerative diseases. Obesity is a major contributor to chronic inflammation caused by an increased number of circulating mononuclear cells, specifically monocytes. Monocytes can trigger fat cells to release more inflammatory mediators that can interfere with insulin signaling, resulting in insulin resistance. If left untreated, insulin resistance can develop into type II diabetes. Results from numerous studies have shown that inflammation markers are significantly higher in blood samples from obese subjects than normal weight subjects....and even more rattling is that cancer researchers believe that chronic inflammation from obesity may account for 25 to 30 percent of several major cancers affecting the colon, breast, uterus, and esophagus (3).
The good news is that moderate lifestyle changes and losing weight are the best treatments for reducing these co-morbidities. Losing 5-10% of your body weight can prevent or delay the development of obesity-related diseases in high-risk adults.
- Longley, R. Obesity Target of Renewed HHS Attack. Dept. of Health and Human Resources.
- Your Weight and Diabetes. The Obesity Society.
- Obesity and Cancer Statistics: Complex Issues.
