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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : November 15, 2018 1:58 PM IST
Obesity can lead to PCOS. ©Shutterstock
Obesity is a lifestyle disease. Perception of medical fraternity towards obesity has changed from mere physical appearance to causative factor for numerous chronic illnesses. "The clinical, metabolic and biochemical understanding of obesity, has implicated obesity as causative and contributing factor in wide array of human disease process. Obesity affects almost every organ of human body negatively," says Abhijit Thakur, Consultant Lap Gl, Breast and Endocrine Surgeon at Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre. He briefs about the negative impact of obesity.
It all started with dyslipidaemia, hypertension, coronary heart disease and stroke caused by obesity, and the list kept expanding slowly incorporating diabetes mellitus, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, polycystic ovarian diseases, infertility and cancer as diseases caused by obesity. Clinical research published, incriminating obesity and fatty liver disease as causative factor of liver cirrhosis was a shocker to medical community. The idiopathic liver cirrhosis, where cause of cirrhosis is not known, the numbers of idiopathic liver cirrhosis were competing with alcoholic cirrhosis and hepatitis virus cirrhosis. With clinical definition of Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis (NASH) and non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis, obesity and fatty liver disease became major contributor to this group of cirrhosis categorized as idiopathic liver cirrhosis. Today obesity stands along alcohol and viral hepatitis in list of causative factor for liver cirrhosis.
Obesity is identified as pro-inflammatory condition, and its contribution in diseases like cancer is also under investigation. Liver cirrhosis progressing to liver cancer is indirect link of obesity to cancer. Obesity could also increase the risk of development of post-menopausal breast cancer, endometrial cancer or uterus cancer, gall bladder, colon and rectal cancer. Significant further research is needed to identify various pathways related to obesity leading to cancers in human body.
Obesity is defined as body mass index (BMI) of more than 30, but 25 to 30 BMI is also not normal, it's pre-obesity or overweight. It's always better to intervene and take measures to reduce weight at overweight level then to wait for obesity to come. BMI below 25 is normal but then lean body mass or body fat content is used to identify hidden obesity. Body fat content of more than 30 percent for women and more than 25 percent for men is categorised as obesity. Body fat content is measured by bioelectric impedance, available now-a-days with advanced weight machines. Ideal weight for your height can be calculated by simple formula of two pounds weight per inch of height.
Disease burden of chronic illnesses on society is increasing day by day. Ageing population, bad dietary habits, sedentary lifestyle, poor food and air quality of modern cities is risking its population to obesity and obesity related complications. Treating such huge burden of lifestyle diseases could be economically draining for any country. That's why there has been so much research in field of preventive medicine. Obesity is a one of the leading preventable cause of death in today's world.
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