Obesity Disorders And Treatments
Obesity is an uncommon and excessive accumulation of fat in the body.
Obesity and overweight together is considered as one of the top 10 global health problems if the recent surveys conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) is to be believed.
Obesity Statistics
1. Overweight adults in the planet are: One billion (one hundred crore).
2. Overweight children below five years of age: more than 22 million.
3. By 2015 overweight persons will be almost 2.3 billion (230 Crores).
4. Obese people in 2007 are 300 million (30 Crores).
5. By 2015 obese people will grow to cross 700 million (70 Crores).
6. Obesity is a major issue not only in developed but also in developing countries, where currently 115 million (11.5 crore), people are the sufferers.
Cause of Obesity
Overweight and obesity are such problems that have many factors.
1. Nutritional Factors
“Metabolic programming” during early life, may fluctuate and effect later obesity risk.
2. Life Style Factors
More people are consuming energy-based food and have started eating often in the day, without being hungry, is also raising the bar of susceptibility of obesity.
3 Sedentary Life
Today people are more prone to leading sedentary lifestyle than did their highly physically active ancestors.
4. Other Causes of Obesity
A. Increasing wealth
B. Less outdoor activity
C. Spending more time playing computer games and watching television.
6. Emotions
Emotions can also cause obesity! How?
People inclined to eat more, when they are;
1. Under stress
2. Upset
3. Anxious
4. Feel bored
To suppress these feelings they eat more. This becomes a frequent cycle.
7. Hereditary
A part of the DNA that people inherit from their parents is responsible for the weight gain in them. But a few genes do not tell our body system how to utilize extra calories which is also inherited if the parents are overweight.
8. Nutrition and Pregnancy
One philosophy is that when children are malnourished in the womb of their mother, on becoming adults, they generally develop abdominal fat, even eating normal diet. This put them at higher risk of illnesses pertaining to obesity.
9. In Asians
Asians have been considered as so called ‘’thrifty gene’’ after living for years under near-famine conditions. Their bodies are, conventionally and metabolically, competent to deal with the abundance of modern life. It is a genetic faculty.
Obesity facts
Obesity Increases Cancer Risk
Obese people are six times more prone to get gullet cancer than common people, as published in the British journal “Gut”. Obesity and gastric acid reflux are prominent risk factors for the growth of esophageal cancer. Synergy of both factors will enhance gullet cancer risk almost by 16 times.
People with body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more are at very even higher risk of developing gullet cancer than people having a BMI of between 18.5 and 25. Obesity is the second most important reason of cancer while smoking is the first most common cancer cause. Diabetes and heart diseases are also the products of obesity. United States of America is the leading country in obesity.
Obesity has already reached alarming and epidemic growth rate even in children due to junk food eating habits and lack of physical activities and exercise.
Effects of Obesity on the body
Following diseases are pertaining to obesity:
1. Diabetes
2. Heart problems
3. Blood Pressure Fluctuations
4. One of the main factors of cancer
How to control Obesity
1. Doing exercise – Walking is the simplest and best exercise.
2. Intake of fruits and vegetables
3. Intake of less fatty foods
4. Yoga and Meditation
5. Controlling Stress
Childhood Obesity
Lack of exercise and habit of eating fast foods, soft drinks and TV advertisements are the prominent causes for increase in childhood obesity among American children, according to the survey published in the American Journal of Preventive medicine.
Schools are providing high-fat, high-sugar and salty foods thereby promoting unhealthy diet and eating habits. Students are reluctant about physical education classes with their growing ages. Most schools provide easy access to soft drinks for extra income. Television advertisements are playing vital role in augmenting junk food eating habits.
Surprisingly, teens from lower-income families are more inclined towards junk foods due to non availability of sufficient money to buy healthy foods, according to the said study.
One in every 6 American children and teens are overweight, according to the US Surgeon general office. It is expected that 70% of these overweight children will grow into obese individuals
Obesity is devastating risk factor for causing type 2 Diabetes and hypertension. Obese children are more prone to depression due to low self-esteem.
Parents should provide ideal environment to children to increase physical activity and develop a liking for exercise. They should cut down the habit of watching TV and unhealthy eating habits.
If proper precautions are not taken, this time bomb will explode any time by causing chronic diseases like Diabetes when they will get older. Parents, schools and Governments and other educational institutions should wake up from the somber and play active role in controlling childhood obesity.
Obesity definition is simply termed as a condition of being overweight. It means that extra amounts of mass are accumulated in your body, which results in the excess body weight. A healthy person’s weight must be synchronized with his or her height, which means within the body mass index (BMI). So, in clinical terms body mass index of 30 and above is considered as obesity.
Obesity has adverse effects on the general health and lifestyle of a person. People who are overweight become inactive as it becomes tough to take part good number of daily activities. They cannot move comfortably, they are always tired and always feel sick and may contract with different kinds of illnesses spanning from cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes, and so forth.
