OBESITY

Obesity

1. What is obesity?
2. How do people get victim of it?
3. What are the problems they come across?
4. What are the complications due to excess obesity?
5. How do you get rid from this?   

By Deepak Mehta ,MBBS,Cairo University

31 March 2020

An obese person

According to WHO, obesity is defined as an abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to an individual's health. A person with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 30 or more is generally considered as an obese. Obesity is now as far recognized as chronic or non-communicable disease.

BMI may be used to categorize weight,

• Underweight: < 18.5 kg/m2
• Normal weight: 18.5 - 24.9 kg/m2
• overweight: 25.0 - 29.9 kg/m2
• Class I obesity: 30.0 - 34.9 kg/m2
• Class II obesity: 35.0 - 39.9 kg/m2
• Class III obesity: >40.0 kg/m2

*Class III obesity is sometimes categorized as "extreme" or "severe" obesity.

Causes

• To be simple obesity is generally caused by eating too much and moving too little 
• As obesity is chronic, it does not happen overnight rather it develops gradually overtime as a result of uncontrolled diet and one's lifestyle such as :

                     -eating out a lot

                     -eating larger portion than you need

                     -drinking too much alcohol

                     -drinking too much sugar drinks

• Like wise, in some cases, underlying medical conditions may contribute to weight gain. These includes:

                      -hypothyroidism

                      -cushings's sundrome

**NB: Some scientists believe that excess sugar intake may be one of the main cause of obesity.

Symptoms

       Common symptoms:

         Rare symptoms:

Early-onset obesity can develop in kids due to several rare genetic disorders involving genes that play a vital role in regulating appetite and energy expenditure, these include:

• Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) deficiency obesity
• Leptin receptor (LEPR) deficiency obesity
• Bardet-Biedl syndrome

Complications

People with obesity are more likely to develop a number of potentially serious health problems, including:

• Heart disease and stroke. Obesity leads to high BP and abnormal cholesterol levels,which are risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
• Type 2 diabetes. Obesity can affect the way our body uses insulin to control blood sugar levels. This raises the risk of insulin resistance and diabetes.
• Sleep apnea. People with obesity are more likely to have sleep apnea, a potentially serious disorder in which breathing stops and starts during sleep.
• Osteoarthritis. Obesity increases the stress placed on weight-bearing joints, in addition to promoting inflammation within the body. These factors may lead to complication such as osteoarthritis.

Treatment

• Common treatment for obesity includes loosing weight through healthy eating, being more physically active, and making other changes to your usual habits.
• Weight management programs can be helpful as trained weight management specialists will design broad plan just for you and help you carry out your plan.
• When the above habits are not enough, doctor may prescribe medicines to treat obesity. (eg; Orlastat, Lorcaserin, Phentermine,etc.) 
• Some weight loss devices play an important role in treatment of obesity.

                            -Electrical Stimulation System
                            -Gastric balloon System                       
                            -Gastric emptying System

• Bariatric surgery also may be an option at lower levels of obesity if you have serious health problems such as type II diabetes mellitus or sleep apnea related to obesity.