What is wrong with Overweight: Obesity

Here are some surprising facts about Obesity according to the World Health Organization (WHO):

•Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since the year 1975.

•In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, age 18 and older, were overweight. Of these, over 650 million were obese(about 9%).

•39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13% were obese.

•Over half of the world's population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight.

•38 million children under 5 years were overweight or obese in 2019.

•Over 340 million children and adolescents between age 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016.

•Obesity is preventable.

•In Sub-saharan Africa e.g Nigeria, Obesity is fast becoming endemic. 26% of Nigerian adults are either obese or overweight.

Overview

Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health and it is measured by Body mass index (BMI): a simple index of weight-for-height. It is defined as a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters (kg/m 2).

The basic cause of obesity and overweight is an imbalance between the amounts of calories taken into the body and calories expended.

The major contributors to Global obesity are:

• Increase in intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat and sugar(Junk food, fast food).

• An increase in physical inactivity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization. Also, the advent of Covid-19 and the changes it influenced contributes to increased physical inactivity greatly.

Raised BMI increases the risk of developing non-communicable diseases such as:

•Cardiovascular diseases (mainly heart disease and stroke), which were the leading cause of death and disabilities in 2012;

•Diabetes

•musculoskeletal disorders (especially osteoarthritis– a highly disabling degenerative disease of the joints)

•some cancers (including endometrial, breast, ovarian, prostate, liver, gallbladder, kidney, and colon).

The risk for these noncommunicable diseases increases, with increase in BMI.

Obesity isn't just about the lack of will-power to stop eating or work out more but it's a biological, physiological and an environmental problem. So now the question is, what environmental, biological and physiological factors promote overeating? 

Fast foods, foods high in calorie content(burgers, pizza etc.) are cheaper to get than healthy foods. Also, the attribution of wealth to unhealthy eating in many countries around the world is one of the reasons overweight and obesity are on the rise. compulsive eating increased food selection and skipped meals all have an impact on overeating also. 

Stress and mood changes can cause a person to have abnormal eating habits. Even boredom, fatigue, and just habits can cause one to eat more than the body needs.

Conclusions

You may want to ask what all the fuzz is about concerning obesity, but you should also know that the cost of Obesity on our society is high and the price we pay outweighs the pleasure we derive from an unhealthy lifestyle. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and cancer constantly increase the cost of health care and it's sadder that it's all an unnecessary evil we could avoid by making good decisions concerning what we eat, how much we consume and how we choose to live our lives.

What are your thoughts on Global obesity? What actions do you recommend?