Obesity can lead to a host of physical and social ailments. Why are obesity rates rising, and what is considered obese anyway?
It seems everywhere we turn we’re
hearing about obesity. The statistics. The dangers. The effect it has on
all areas of one’s life. We know weight gain is bad, but surrounded by
supersized value meals and communities not designed for walking, is
there any hope of winning the battle of the bulge?
The answer is a resounding yes. And the first step lies in knowing thy enemy.
Obesity: What Is It?
Over the last 25 years, obesity rates
have been climbing steadily. According to a recent National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey, 33 percent of men and 35 percent of women
are obese. Even among children and adolescents,16 percent were found to
be obese.
In layman’s terms, obesity is carrying enough body fat to put an individual at risk for a variety of ailments including diabetes,
hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, pulmonary disease,
reproductive disorders, osteoarthritis, and cancer, among others. “In
short, obesity can affect functioning of all major body organ systems,”
says Jennifer Nasser, RD, PhD, assistant professor in the department of
biology at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Obesity is typically determined by figuring out an individual’s body mass index (BMI)
using a formula that includes his or her height and weight. For an
adult, a number of 25 or larger falls in the overweight category, while a
value of 30 or more is considered obese.
This formula is not appropriate for
children and teens, however. “BMIs for children and teens are age- and
gender-specific because the amount of body fat changes with age and
growth and differs between boys and girls,” says Rose Clifford, RD,
clinical dietitian in the department of pharmacy services at the
Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention offer an accurate BMI calculator for those under
age 20 with their Child and Teen BMI Calculator.
Obesity: What Causes It?
A variety of factors are converging to
cause the current obesity epidemic. “More people are becoming obese
because of the foods that are available and inexpensive,” says Caroline
M. Apovian, MD, associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at the
Boston University School of Medicine and director of the Center for
Nutrition and Weight Management at the Boston Medical Center. “We are
eating 200 more calories per day than we did 50 years ago.”
Technology has made our lives easier,
yet also more sedentary as we drive instead of walk and e-mail instead
of wandering by a colleague’s desk. The environment, too, can be causing
us to add extra pounds. “Weight gain results from the interaction
between genes and environment,” says Linda Bacon, PhD, associate
nutritionist at the University of California, Davis, and author of Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight.
“Environmental conditions are changing and some people’s genes make
them susceptible to gaining weight in the current environmental
conditions.” Bacon says that these include increased toxins in the
environment, some of which cause changes in hormones which lead us to
store fat, and changes in our eating habits — some of the nutrients more
common today don’t trigger our internal weight regulation mechanisms as
readily as foods from nature do.
Obesity: What Are Its Effects?
Besides health dangers, obesity can
cause economic hardships and psychological effects including depression
and self-esteem issues. Perhaps worst of all is the discrimination
suffered by those who are obese. “Discrimination against larger people
now exceeds that based on race and gender,” says Bacon.
While obesity can be affected by
genetics and the environment, there is still plenty you can do to fight
it. Stay active by scheduling exercise into your routine and avoid
spending too much time on sedentary activities like TV-watching. And
make healthy diet choices — with correct portion sizes and at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
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