Health

What is Obesity

Obesity is the most prevalent, fatal, chronic, relapsing disorder of the 21st century. Obesity is a leading cause of United States mortality, morbidity, disability, healthcare utilization and healthcare costs. It is likely that the increase in obesity will strain our healthcare system with millions of additional cases of diabetes, heart disease and disability.

Obesity is defined as excess adipose tissue. There are several different methods for determining excess adipose (fat) tissue; the most common being the Body Mass Index (BMI) (see below). A fat cell is an endocrine cell and adipose tissue is an endocrine organ. As such, adipose tissue secretes a number of products, including metabolites, cytokines, lipids, and coagulation factors among others. Significantly, excess adiposity or obesity causes insulin secretion, which can cause insulin resistance that leads to type 2 diabetes.
The biology of food intake is very complex, involving olfaction (smell), taste, texture, temperature, cognitive and emotional responses and metabolic/autonomic information, which signal the brain to initiate or cease eating. Recent scientific studies have identified several substances that act on the brain to signal a need for an increase in food intake. Likewise, several substances have been identified that signal the brain to decrease food intake.

Obesity is a disease that affects over one-third of the adult American population (approximately 72 million Americans¹). The number of overweight and obese Americans has increased since 1960, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down. Today, 66.3 percent of adult Americans (about 200 million) are categorized as being overweight or obese. Since 1960, adult Americans have increased average heights by 1 inch and average weight by 25 pounds. In 1963 a ten year old boy weighed, on average, 74.2 pounds. Now the average boy weighs 85 pounds.
Obesity is increasing around the world. High body mass index now ranks with major global health problems such as childhood and maternal under-nutrition, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, unsafe sex, iron deficiency, smoking, alcohol and unsafe water in total global burden of disease.
Each year, obesity causes at least 112,000 excess deaths in the US.² A study published in the August 24, 2006 New England Journal of Medicine showed increase risk of death among both men and women who were overweight but not obese. Obesity has been associated with numerous, adverse health effects. They include: type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, gallstones, fatty liver disease, sleep apnea, GERD, stress incontinence, heart failure, degenerative joint disease, birth defects, miscarriages, asthma, cancers in men (esophageal, colorectal, liver, pancreatic, lung, prostate, kidney, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma and leukemia), and cancers in women (breast, colorectal, gallbladder, pancreatic, lung, uterine, cervical, ovarian, kidney, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma).
Healthcare costs of American adults with obesity amount to approximately $147 billion.³  Discrimination and mistreatment of persons with obesity is widespread and often considered socially acceptable.

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