Obesity a Mere Cosmetic Concern or a Serious Disease?
Obesity has been considered as a mere cosmetic concern since long. However, American Medical Association (AMA) opened the doors of a completely new world by declaring that obesity is a disease in 2013.
Obesity is regarded as a complicated disease that involves the accumulation of excessive body fat which leads to BMI more than the normal standards. Consequently, it leads to reduced quality of lifestyle and increased morbidity and mortality.
Furthermore, it is closely related to several other chronic diseases such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, stroke, breast & colon cancer, infertility and in some cases degenerative arthritis.
Such alarming statistics calls for proper treatment of the disease.
What is the General Cause of Obesity?
Obesity refers to an imbalance of consumption and utilization of energy; positive energy balance. It is not all about eating habits and physical activity, rather the obesity paradox is multifactorial. The causes of disturbed energy balance vary from being physical, psychological, metabolic, and neurological to hormonal impairments. Such a vast pathological framework requires a careful diagnosis and treatment to head back to healthy life style.
What impact obesity Can cause on your life?
Obesity casts a strong impact on various aspects of one’s life. The health of an obese person is affected on three levels; psychological, mechanical, and metabolic.
Obesity has a strong bi-directional link with mental health. Poor self-image due to obesity instills social withdrawal and constant depression and anxiety leading to an unhealthier lifestyle contributing to factors causing obesity.
Mechanical impact of obesity accounts for joints and back pain, sleep apnea, and decreased physical activity. Whereas, metabolic impacts caused by the fat accumulated in the body include risks of diabetes, blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels etc.
Some Other Facts About Obesity
Contrary to the conventional image of obesity, the paradox of obesity is much more than exercise and eating habits. Hence, avoiding/ treating obesity involves managing the energy balance via physical exertion and basal activity, improvement of lifestyle standards via behavioral therapies and proper physical activity routines.
Breaking it down into more details.
Obesity roots from your lifestyle
Your lifestyle has a major effect on your health condition. Poor lifestyle and food choices are counted as major contributing factors to obesity which affects your life in the long run. Obesity is a growing health concern especially the young adults. Accurate assessment of lifestyle habits is important to know the age specific intervention strategies that can prevent and reduce obesity progression.
Lifestyle Modifications
Psychological therapies aid in improving the mental health and consequently improve daily life routine; healthy diet, physical activity and weight management.
Mere lifestyle improvement helps in reducing total body weight up to 5% and lowers the disease load by 50%.
Physical treatments such as bariatric & laparoscopy wear off the burden of extra weight and makes it easier to perform physical activity and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Physical therapy such as exercise at moderate levels (23 mins) reduces hypertension and increases your cardiovascular conditions. For weight management, physical exertion is extended to 45 minutes.
Increasing the duration of exercise up to 60min to 90min brings out the actual benefits of weight loss.
A general Overview About the Anti-obesity Drugs
There are certain medicines that are used to fight obesity:
- 1Naltrexone/ Bupripion: Naltrexone opioid antagonist that can reduce cravings and Bupripion reuptake inhibitors can help to stimulate POMC, this treatment regimen is good for smokers.
- 2Phenteramine/ Topiramate: Increased NEP and Dop that will lead to suppressed hunger and cravings, it can also cause reduced anxiety. It is good for migraines.
- 3Orlistat: It is used to suppress the lipase enzyme, that will cause the oil malabsorption
- 4Lorcaserin: serotonin stimulation but it can cause cancer
- 5Liraglutide: GLP 1 analogue
- 6Start BMI>30, goal 5% TBW weight loss over 3 months
What Physiological Changes a Person go Through after going under the Bariatric Surgery?
Bariatric surgery can enable people going through severe obesity to lose weight. For the same reason, it is becoming quite popular all over the world. Bariatric surgery is the most-effective weight loss procedure. That can help to fight obesity. It is a major health concern all over the Globe. But Bariatric surgery alone is not enough and a person needs committed behavioral and lifestyle changes for maintaining the ideal weight.
Obesity can be controlled in the following ways, by making the following changes
Starting losing weight with lifestyle: 5% Pharmacotherapy role in losing weight: 3 to 8% Role of Bariatric surgery in losing weight
Weight regain in 5 years can happen if proper lifestyle changes aren’t made.
How to Maintain Energy Balance?
Food choices, eating stimuli, Social dining and Stress/ comfort eating can let the energy in, and then that energy will be stored in the energy storage house, energy can be stored in white adipose tissue and brown adipose tissue. Then, with the basal activity, physical exertion and thermal heat production energy is out.
What you need to know about Hypothalamus and Energy balance?
The GIT plays an important role in Energy balance with coordination with Hypothalamus, fat tissue, pancreas can send feedback to arcurate nucleus.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is obesity?
Obese people have an unhealthy and very high body fat percentage. Researchers employ a calculation called the body mass index (BMI = weight in kg / m2) to measure obesity, which is based on an individual’s weight and height. Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or higher.
Is obesity a problem in Pakistan?
According to the WHO, 58.1 percent of Pakistanis are overweight, while 43.9 percent are obese. Thus, excess weight is a common problem among individuals in Pakistan.
What is the most common reason for obesity?
Obesity is caused by eating too much and not exercising enough. Genetics, cultural, and environmental variables all play a role, but the major cause is eating too much and not exercising enough.
Is it true that obesity shortens life expectancy?
Without a doubt. Obesity is the second major cause of early deaths after smoking. In addition, it reduces life expectancy by about ten years.
Does obesity have an impact on a person’s sexual life?
Obese women were 30% less likely than normal-weight women to have had a sexual partner in the previous year. In addition, obese and non-obese males were found to have little in common.
Am I a good candidate for weight-loss surgery?
If BMI is 35 or higher and you have additional risk factors, or if it is 40 or higher and you have no risk factors, your doctor may encourage you to consider weight loss surgery. Your medical history and weight-loss attempts are also taken into account.
What is bariatric surgery?
Bariatric surgery is a procedure that helps individuals lose weight permanently. Bariatric surgery is a newer, less intrusive procedure. Because the procedure is done through a laparoscope, there is less scarring, a quicker recovery time, and optimal safety and efficiency.
What is the best place to get professional advice?
ALSA Pakistan is made up of professionals who use a multidisciplinary approach and collaborate with qualified surgeons to treat each patient’s condition and needs fully in order to offer you with the best possible outcome.
Is obesity common?
It’s going up at an alarming rate. Obesity affects three out of ten persons in the United States. Europe is on the same track as the United States, although the rates are not yet at the same level.
What is the difference between someone being overweight and obese?
The body mass index, which is a ratio of weight and height, is frequently used to evaluate whether someone is overweight or obese. For example, you are overweight if your BMI is between 25 and 29.9. Obesity is characterized as having a BMI of 30 or greater.
What are the dangers of obesity to one’s health?
Obesity puts you at risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, gallbladder disease, respiratory problems, some types of cancer, persistent back pain, and osteoarthritis, to name a few. In addition, obesity can also harm one’s self-esteem and lead to depression.
Is there any link between obesity and cancer?
Obesity is linked to up to 30% of major malignancies, including colon, breast, endometrial, kidney, ovary, and esophageal cancers.
Is obesity curable?
Diet and exercise alone are nearly difficult to reduce weight. It is feasible to shed a few pounds, but the weight returns with fury once someone stops dieting. Weight loss surgery or Bariatric surgery is the only long-term solution.
What are the treatment options for obesity?
Depending on certain conditions, bariatric surgery is a treatment option for obesity. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, mini-gastric bypass, and gastric sleeve are the three forms of bariatric surgery available at ALSA Pakistan.
They are really successful methods for reducing a large amount of weight and keeping it off in the long run.
Is bariatric surgery effective? How much weight can you lose right after surgery?
Depending on initial weight, the person loses 8-20kg in the first month and 4-10kg every month after that. Weight reduction lasts for 1 1/2 to 2 years until one achieves a near-ideal weight, after which it slows down. Each person’s results are unique and should not be compared.
Over the course of 17 years, all of the patients who have been treated appear to be pleased with the overall results. The treatment’s major purpose is to cure the ailments and improve the patient’s quality of life.
