Reading the health risks of obesity
What are the health risks of obesity?
The number of people with obesity in the UK has more than trebled in the last 25 years. Doctors now say that the condition is reaching 'epidemic' proportions. Why are they so concerned?
A person is considered obese if they are very overweight with a high degree of body fat. Some experts believe obesity is responsible for more ill health than smoking. Being significantly overweight is linked to a wide range of health problems, including:
Diabetes
Heart disease
High blood pressure
Arthritis
Indigestion
Gallstones
Some cancers (eg, breast cancer)
Snoring and sleep apnoea
Stress, anxiety, and depression
Infertility
The most common way to assess if a person is obese is to check their body mass index. BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in metres squared. If your BMI is above 25 you are overweight. A BMI of 30-40 is considered obese, while above 40 is very obese. A BMI of less than 18.5 is underweight.
Another useful method is to take a waist measurement because fat in the centre of the body (apple-shaped obesity) is much more strongly linked to health risks than fat more widely distributed on the arms and legs. Women with a waist of 80cm or greater and men with a waist of 94cm or greater are more likely to develop obesity-related health problems.
On average a physically active man needs around 2,500 calories per day, while a woman needs 2,000. If we eat any more, the extra energy is stored for later use, mostly as fat. This mechanism was life-saving in the past when food was often scarce. However, the boom in plentiful, cheap food, coupled with a general decrease in physical activity, means that those stores of fat are rarely called on. Instead they continue to grow.
So why don't people just stop eating foods high in fat and sugar if they know they can cause physical problems? Scientists are still searching for the answers, but it appears that our brains have been wired to encourage the
The number of people with obesity in the UK has more than trebled in the last 25 years. Doctors now say that the condition is reaching 'epidemic' proportions. Why are they so concerned?
A person is considered obese if they are very overweight with a high degree of body fat. Some experts believe obesity is responsible for more ill health than smoking. Being significantly overweight is linked to a wide range of health problems, including:
Diabetes
Heart disease
High blood pressure
Arthritis
Indigestion
Gallstones
Some cancers (eg, breast cancer)
Snoring and sleep apnoea
Stress, anxiety, and depression
Infertility
The most common way to assess if a person is obese is to check their body mass index. BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in metres squared. If your BMI is above 25 you are overweight. A BMI of 30-40 is considered obese, while above 40 is very obese. A BMI of less than 18.5 is underweight.
Another useful method is to take a waist measurement because fat in the centre of the body (apple-shaped obesity) is much more strongly linked to health risks than fat more widely distributed on the arms and legs. Women with a waist of 80cm or greater and men with a waist of 94cm or greater are more likely to develop obesity-related health problems.
On average a physically active man needs around 2,500 calories per day, while a woman needs 2,000. If we eat any more, the extra energy is stored for later use, mostly as fat. This mechanism was life-saving in the past when food was often scarce. However, the boom in plentiful, cheap food, coupled with a general decrease in physical activity, means that those stores of fat are rarely called on. Instead they continue to grow.
So why don't people just stop eating foods high in fat and sugar if they know they can cause physical problems? Scientists are still searching for the answers, but it appears that our brains have been wired to encourage the