Understanding Obesity Health Risks
Body fat is a good thing, in moderation. But too much body fat interferes with
good health in a number of ways. Understanding the effect of obesity on your
health helps you understand why it's important to develop a healthful lifestyle:
good eating habits and plenty of physical activity. Here are some of the ways
obesity interferes with maintaining good health.
Metabolic interference
Obesity results when people eat more calories than they use. When you eat
extra calories, your body wants to store the extra calories for a rainy day, just in
case starvation conditions arise. What is the body's favourite way to store extra
calories? Fat converts calories into molecules called triglycerides, and packs the
triglyceride into fat cells. Fat cells can grow larger as more fat is stored, but they
cannot expand indefinitely. Weight gain and too much body fat interfere with
normal metabolic processes in many ways that contribute to the chronic health
problems likely to arise with obesity.
Researchers believe that when people are gaining weight and their bodies are making extra triglycerides, expanding fat cells
may become damaged, or simply reach the end of their life expectancies when they get too full of fat. When this happens,
immune cells called macrophages come in to help dispose of damaged and dead fat cells. The job of macrophages is to
disarm potential attackers, like bacteria and viruses, by engulfing and digesting them. They try to attack triglycerides and
dead fat cells in this manner, but are often overwhelmed by the challenge. They call in more immune cells to help. As more
immune cells congregate to deal with the damage, inflammation is the result.
While inflammation is helpful for healing a wound, chronic inflammation can interfere with a number of important biochemical
processes. Several of obesity's negative health effects are thought to be the result of inflammation in the fat tissue.
Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Diabetes may result when some of the chemicals produced by the macrophages
interfere with blood sugar regulation. These chemical messengers prevent the body's cells from responding appropriately to
the hormone insulin, which signals cells to take up sugar (glucose) from the blood. High blood sugar levels, in turn, cause
more damage, including accelerated aging of the arteries, thus contributing to artery disease, the leading cause of heart
disease. High blood sugar also causes damage to the eyes, kidneys and nerves.
High blood pressure. High insulin levels create a stress response in the body, activating the fight or flight response. This
can contribute to high blood pressure.
blood lipid levels and heart disease. Excess triglyceride production (from excess calories) raises levels of blood fats,
including blood triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. These lipids contribute to the formation of arterial
plaque and more inflammation, as macrophages attempt to deal with damaged arteries.
inflammatory disorders. The inflammation caused by obesity may contribute to other disorders associated with
inflammation, such as liver disease, pancreaitis, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Obesity increases risk for Alzheimer's
disease, perhaps through accelerated aging of the arteries.
Obesity is associated with increased risk of many types of cancers.
Cancer promotion
Obesity is associated with increased risk of many types of cancers. Researchers have suggested that fat tissue may secrete
chemicals that make people more susceptible to cancer. Health professionals emphasize, however, that this research is
preliminary, and we advise that cancer patients not lose weight, as extra weight can be protective once cancer has already
developed.
Physical strain
The physical strain of excess weight can overload weight-bearing joints such as the hips, knees and feet, and accelerate
development of the joint degeneration and pain associated with osteoarthritis.
Lifestyle solutions
Switching your body from energy storage mode to energy usage mode produces many health benefits. As fat cells stop
growing, inflammatory processes slow. A relatively small weight loss (5 to 10 percent of body weight) has enormous health
benefits, as fat tissue's secretion of disruptive chemicals declines. Consume a heart-healthy diet with plenty of fish, fruits and
vegetables, and increase energy output with regular physical activity.