What is obesity? – Obesity simply refers to excess accumulation of body fat. It is a disease condition that has effect on the overall health and quality of life of those affected. It is often associated with serious medical conditions like hypertension and diabetes.

What symptoms are associated with obesity?

Though obesity is classified as a disease condition, there are no specific symptoms associated with it. However, its presence may lead to other disease (such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis etc) which manifest with symptoms.

How is obesity determined?

You can easily check if you are obese by simple calculation:

1. Body mass index (BMI) – This is calculated by measuring the body weight and height; and then, dividing the weight (in kilograms) by the height (in metres) [weight(kg)/height(m)]. Obesity is divided into grades / classes, from mild (class I = 30 – 34.9 kg/m2) to moderate (class II = 35 – 39.9kg/m2) to severe / morbid (class III = above 40 kg/m2). The risks associated with obesity may not be directly related to this classification.
2. Waist circumference – The waist circumference is sometimes measured to determine obesity. Waist circumference above 80cm in women or 100cm in men may be regarded as obesity, with all the associated complications.

What are the causes of obesity?

Obesity is a result of excess energy balance. This happens when more calorie (food) is taken than is used. The excess gets stored in the body as fat, increasing the body mass. Factors that result in having excess calories include:

1. Overeating – Eating more food than you need, eating processed food or food with high sugar / fat content results in weight gain because the body stores the excess as fat for future use.
2. Sedentary lifestyle – Lack of physical activities reduces the energy expended, thus leading to excess unused calorie in the body, leading to weight gain.
3. Lack of sleep – This may have effect on the hormone that controls hunger urges, thus making the person eat more. Keeping awake longer than necessary stimulates hunger and makes you to eat more.
4. Genetics – Some persons naturally have the tendency to overeat and gain weight as they do so.
5. Drugs – Some medications have been associated with weight gain. These include drugs for diabetes, seizure disorders, depression and some antihypertensives.
6. Physical disability – Physical limitations may limit physical activities and this may result in weight gain.
7. Underlying medical conditions – People with mental health issues (anxiety, depression etc), for example, may engage in overeating which may lead to obesity.
8. Stress – Stress leads to increase in weight by releasing hormones that increase hunger. Stress often makes people eat more food with high calorie and fat contents for their immediate comfort.

How can obesity be treated?

Treatment of obesity needs the cooperation of the person affected. Approach includes the following:

1. Change / modification of diet – Changing diet from high calorie low fiber (bread and other flour-related products, energy drinks, other industrial processed foods) to high fiber low calorie food (vegetables, garden egg, cucumber etc) may help in weight loss as less calorie will be available for use, and not enough for storage.
2. Regular exercise – Physical activities help to burn calories and deplete energy store. Easy ways of increasing activities include regular trekking, jogging, skipping etc)
3. Avoidance of sedentary lifestyle – Those involved in work schedule that require prolonged sitting may design activities outside office schedule that encourage burning calorie.
4. Mental health support – Counselling and group support may help in managing stress and addressing psychological issues affecting the individual.
5. Drugs – Medications are not usually the answer to treating obesity. However, they may be useful in some cases. They may work to suppress hunger and thereby reduce food intake, which is an important pathway to gaining weight.
6. Surgery – Surgery is usually done as last resort, especially for class III obesity. The surgery is to reduce the size of the stomach and intestine in order to reduce the quantity of food absorbed into the body.

What are the complications of obesity?

Obesity has effects on the entire body. The following are some of its effects on the body:

1. Diabetes
2. Hypertension
3. Heart disease
4. Liver disease
5. Gall bladder stones
6. Kidney disease