Obesity

Obesity

By: Anthony Casperes

Introduction

Obesity is a complicated health condition. It can have psychological, biological, and cultural components, or often a mix of all three. Carrying too much weight can have a variety of health consequences, like higher risk for diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and many more. A lot of people not only in America but the whole world struggle with obesity. According to my research about the obesity rates in the U.S. have been steadily rising since 1970s. Also according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third or 35.7 percent of U.S. adults are considered to be obese, as are almost 17 percent of children aged 2 to 19 years.

What is Obesity?

Obesity is defined as excess adipose tissue. There are several different methods for determining excess adipose or fat tissue. The most common being the Body Mass Index or BMI. 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 factor among others. Significantly, excess adiposity or obesity causes increased levels of circulating fatty acids and inflammation. This can lead to insulin resistance, which in turn can lead to type 2 diabetes.

Obesity is a disease that affects more than one-third of the U.S. adult population. The number of Americans with obesity has steadily increased since 1970s. a trend that has slowed in recent years but shows no sign of reversing. Today, 69 percent of U.S. adults are categorized as being affected by obesity or having excess weight.

Risk of Obesity

According to the CDC, an estimated 112,000 excess deaths per year are associated with obesity. Obesity puts individuals at risk for more than 30 chronic health conditions. They include: type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, gallstones, heart disease, fatty liver disease, sleep apnea, GERD, stress incontinence, heart failure, degenerative joint disease, birth defects, miscarriages, asthma and other respiratory conditions, and numerous cancers.

Possible Solution

For people with obesity, weight loss based solely on lifestyle changes can be very difficult 
to achieve and even more challenging to maintain. Supporting strategies, such as obesity medications, can be important tools for effectively treating obesity in some individuals. Given the complex nature of the disease, no single drug is likely to fix this epidemic but its not too late to change. Get help or work with a team of health professionals including a dietitian, behavior counselor or an obesity specialist to help you understand and make changes in your health.

Community

"I am a 42 yr. old male. My current weight is 240 lbs. A am working on losing weight by increasing physical activity as well as portion control on my food intake." Lowrence Santiago

" My name is Rajah, I am 4 yrs. old. My current weight is 65 lbs and I am overweight."

"My name is Marites, 45 yrs. old and I am overweight. I had a problem with my eating habit before thats why I gained a lot of weight. Now that I have high blood pressure medication, borderline of diabetes, and high cholesterol, I started to do some walking exercise and changing my food diet to a healthy food.

"Mi mejor manera de mantener mi salud es mi alimento sano y saludable mantener I hora al día mi cuerpo en ejercicio aerobic exercise." Maria C. Alejo

"I am 63 yrs. old and weight 220 lbs. As of now I am trying to change my life style to lose weight by watching my diet and by doing exercise. Hopefully I can accomplish this task so I can get rid of some of my medication." Abraham Sta. Cruz

Reference

Overweight & Obesity. (2017, August 17). Retrieved  from

          https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/index.html

Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2016, January 19). Retrieved from

          https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/state-public-health-actions.htm