Obesity slowly destroys the entire body. The doctor explains what the effects are

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Two butter croissants for breakfast, fast food for lunch, in the meantime a salty snack with a carbonated drink, a hearty dinner, no exercise and … we are on a straight path to excess kilos, which will be more and more with each such eating habit. The data is alarming – in Poland, 62 percent suffer from overweight and obesity. men and 46 percent. women, and this problem is also increasingly affecting children and teenagers. Paweł Rajewski, MD, PhD, prof. WSNoZ, MBA, Member of the Herbalife Nutrition Scientific Council, explains from a medical point of view where obesity comes from and what its consequences are.

What is obesity?

Obesity is a chronic, metabolic disease with no tendency to spontaneously resolve, but with a tendency to relapse. It is characterized by abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in the body, which leads to a range of complications.

We can talk about obesity in the case of the amount of adipose tissue above 25%. body weight in men and over 30 percent. in women. Also important is a Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥30 kg / m2 or a waist circumference over 80 cm in women and over 94 cm in men in the European population.

It is undoubtedly a disease of civilization that affects adults, but in recent years there has also been a systematic increase in obesity in children and adolescents, which is a disturbing phenomenon.

The causes of obesity

In the pathogenesis of obesity, and therefore among its causes, we can mention environmental, psychological, genetic, neuroendocrine and idiopathic factors – the use of certain drugs. However, 90 percent. the cause of excess body weight is an incorrect lifestyle, i.e. improper nutrition, and insufficient physical activity, which is usually a consequence of the development of civilization.

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The psychological factor is also important. In recent years, more and more attention has been paid to emotional disorders and eating disorders as the cause of obesity – low self-esteem, low mood, inability to meet mental needs, night eating syndrome (NES), compulsive eating syndrome (BED), eating under stress (EED) or compulsive eating. These disorders may constitute, respectively, for EED and BED – 15-40%; food addiction 25-40 percent; night food syndrome 6-42 percent.

In general, for obesity to develop, there must be a positive energy balance, i.e. the supply of excess food (calories), i.e. energy in relation to its expenditure on basic metabolism, exercise metabolism and thermogenesis (maintaining a constant temperature). The excess that is not used by the body is stored in the form of adipose tissue. This is how we gain weight. Overweight and obesity, however, are just the beginning – if left untreated, they lead to a number of complications and diseases.

Health consequences of obesity

Complications can affect virtually every body system, starting from the mental sphere – excessive body weight can lead to decreased self-esteem, social isolation, anxiety, depression and sleep disorders. In the physical sphere, we can deal with disorders in the lipid and carbohydrate metabolism that lead to pre-diabetes or diabetes.

We are also at risk of developing high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases such as ischemic heart disease, heart attack and stroke. It also increases the risk of developing kidney disease, gout, obstructive sleep apnea, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or the development of gallbladder stones. Excess body weight is also associated with the development of degenerative joint diseases or varicose veins.

Obesity also leads to hormonal disorders, and thus to fertility disorders, testosterone deficiency in men or menstrual disorders, hyperandrogenism and polycystic ovary syndrome in women. It is also a greater risk of developing cancer – breast, uterus, colon, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, prostate, thyroid, liver.

Medical diagnosis of obesity

The diagnosis of obesity is based on the use of BMI measurements, anthropometric measurements, electrical bioimpedance – body mass composition analysis – or imaging methods, such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

In clinical practice, obesity is most often diagnosed on the basis of the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is the quotient of body weight expressed in kg by height expressed in meters squared. According to the following ranges:

1. BMI 18,5-24,9 – correct body weight,
2. BMI 25,0-29,9 – overweight,
3. BMI ≥30 – obesity.

We also use waist measurement to diagnose abdominal obesity. This measurement should be performed at the level of the navel, and in the case of significant obesity, it should be the maximum circumference of the abdomen. For the European population, we do it in accordance with the criteria of the IDF (The International Diabetes Federation), after exceeding the following values:

1. for women> 80cm,
2. for men> 94cm3,4.

You can also calculate the waist-hip ratio (WHR – Waist / Hip ratio), which differentiates between apple-type abdominal obesity and pear-gluteal obesity. The circumference of the hips is measured at the level of the upper iliac spines. According to this indicator:

1. for women, WHR <0,8 is gluteal-femoral obesity,
2. for men, WHR <0,95 is gluteal-femoral obesity.

Obesity Treatment

Treatment of obesity should be comprehensive and consist of:

1. diet therapy,
2. lifestyle modification in terms of increasing and regularity of physical activity,
3. psychotherapy, especially when eating under the influence of emotions,
4. pharmacological treatment – currently three drugs for the treatment of obesity are registered in Poland,
5. surgical treatment.

The goal of treatment, however, is not a rapid and significant weight loss, but a weight loss that will improve your health and can be sustained over the long term.

It is recommended to reduce body weight by 5-10%. starting weight within 3-6 months. Faster reduction very often leads to repeated yo-yo effects, i.e. weight gain in the short term above the body weight previously lost, which usually contributes to the deterioration of health.

Obesity is still a serious problem and a challenge for modern medicine. The systematic increase in the number of people with excess body weight, the lack of appropriate educational, screening and preventive programs, many people perceive obesity as an aesthetic defect, and not a disease that needs to be diagnosed and treated – all this means that in the coming years the problem will only worsen . Therefore, this situation requires urgent intervention and a change in the attitude of society and doctors.

Chronic complications of obesity, affecting virtually every system and all organs, make appropriate prophylactic and therapeutic procedures avoid many of them or reduce their severity. As a result, the quality and length of life are improved, and the costs associated with chronic treatment of complications or hospitalizations of patients are reduced. Appropriate interventions are also needed at the stage of overweight – pre-obesity.

A balanced diet and physical activity are the key to fighting obesity

Awareness of a properly balanced diet, although it seems high, has no practical impact on eating habits, which is confirmed by the data on the scale of the problem of overweight and obesity in Polish society. Therefore, we should necessarily implement appropriate education and prevention from early childhood, in kindergartens and schools, and at the same time educate adults. Proper nutrition is primarily a diet with appropriately selected calories, rich in micro and macro elements that support the functioning of the body. It is also physical activity, even if it is moderate, but it contributes to maintaining good health and well-being. Activities supporting the translation of theoretical knowledge into practical action are also important.

We should not only educate about the role of a balanced diet, but also the categories of products that are worth reaching for, and which are characterized by high nutritional value. First of all, they are vegetables and fruits. According to the guidelines of NIPH-PZH (National Institute of Public Health – National Institute of Hygiene) 9, they should constitute at least half of the meals consumed. Equally important in today’s world, taking into account the pace of life, are comprehensive nutritional solutions that are characterized by a rich nutritional matrix. Prevention is always better than treating the effects of an improper diet that leads to overweight and obesity.