Obesity | Major diseases caused by obesity

The dangers of obesity

The World Health Organization declared in the last century that "obesity has increasingly become a global disease affecting human health." Entering the 21st century, obesity is clearly recognized as the world's largest chronic disease, and it is listed as the world's four major medical and social problems alongside AIDS, poison anesthesia, and alcohol addiction, and is the enemy of human health.

Major diseases caused by obesity

1. Coronary heart disease

Because of the increase in fat and weight, the oxygen and nutrients consumed by the body also need to increase. This requires the heart to work extra hard, strengthen contraction, and transport more blood to transport enough blood to the various tissues and organs of the body to meet the needs of the body. This greatly increases the burden on the heart, affects the function of the heart, and increases the risk of heart disease. This is especially obvious for women, obesity is more likely to cause heart disease than smoking.

2. High blood pressure

The proportion of obese people suffering from hypertension is very large, reaching 20%-50%, which is much higher than the incidence of hypertension in ordinary people. Obese patients between the ages of 40 and 60 suffer from hypertension, reaching the total number of obese patients in this age group. About 80% of it.

3. High blood fat

Obese people's body uses less free fat, free fat in blood lipids accumulate, and blood lipid volume increases. Obesity is the inevitable companion of high blood lipids. And hyperlipidemia can induce dysmotility, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease.

4. Diabetes

According to statistics, the number of diabetic patients among obese people is 4 times that of non-obese people and this rate increases with the degree of obesity. Because there are too many fat cells, the pancreas needs to secrete more insulin (usually 5-10 times normal) to convert the sugar in the blood into energy. When the pancreas is overloaded for a long time and its function fails, the sugar in the blood will increase, so that it cannot be fully utilized and excreted from the body. A diabetic patient caused by obesity often changes after losing weight, and the metabolism of sugar will return to normal. Therefore, a diabetic patient with obesity should work harder to lose weight.

5. Cerebrovascular accident

Hypertension and a history of coronary heart disease are important risk factors for stroke. Although obesity does not directly cause stroke, it is an important indirect risk factor for stroke.

6. Gynecological diseases

Obese women are often accompanied by irregular menstruation problems, such as excessive time, irregular cycles, excessive volume, and hirsutism (abnormal growth of body hair caused by hormonal imbalance). Obesity can also cause vaginal infections and some premenstrual complications, which causes a lot of unpleasantness and inconvenience. Obese women will secrete excessive amounts of estrogen. When there is too much estrogen in the body and too little progesterone, it may cause edema or brain swelling, thereby increasing weight.

7. Skin diseases and dull and rough skin

Obese people have weak peripheral circulation and their skin responds slowly to changes in the outside world. Therefore, they are extremely prone to skin diseases such as dermatitis, eczema, scabies, and chilblains. Also, obesity can cause hormonal changes in the body, which can lead to acanthosis nigricans (skin pigmentation, thickening, and roughness, etc.) and stasis dermatitis (skin swelling, inflammation, etc.)

8. Cancer

After investigating many obese people, the American Cancer Society found that if an obese person weighs more than 40% higher than the standard weight of his peers, he suffers from endometrial cancer, gallbladder cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer because of obesity. The chances range from 1.5 times to 5.5 times. Another study pointed out that a woman who weighs 15 kg to 25 kg over the standard weight will have uterine cancer 3 times that of normal weight. If the weight exceeds the standard weight by 25 kg, she will suffer The disease rate is as high as 10 times that of normal people.

9. Increase heart burden

Excess fat tissue in the body consumes more oxygen. This means that the heart must provide more blood oxygen to the fat tissue, which undoubtedly increases the burden on the heart, thereby increasing the risk of blood clots and deterioration of blood circulation throughout the body. Studies have found that obese people have a 10-fold higher risk of atherosclerosis compared with healthy people.

10. Increase the risk of colon cancer

Obesity is related to most cancers, but it is most related to colon cancer. A prospective study in the United States (n>900,000) found that compared with normal-weight people, the mortality rate of colorectal cancer in men with overweight and obesity increased by 20%-80%, and women with obesity increased by 10%-46%.

11. Causes premature brain aging

A new study from the University of California, Los Angeles found that compared with people of normal weight, obese people have an average of 8% less brain tissue and 16 years of premature aging. In general, overweight people have 4% less brain tissue than normal people and 8 years of premature aging.  The more fat, the worse the cognitive function of the brain.

12. Lead to impaired lung function

A French study found that compared with people with normal weight, people with abdominal obesity are twice as likely to lose lung function, and have a higher incidence of respiratory diseases such as COPD and sleep apnea.

The five most harmful organs of obesity:

1. heart
2. the large intestine
3. brain
4. skin
5. lung

Obesity is the main cause of many chronic diseases:

1. Sleep apnea
2. Stroke
3. Heart disease
4. Hypertension
5. Hyperlipidemia
6. Gout
7. Degenerative arthritis
8. Fatty liver
9. Gallstones
10. Diabetes
11. Infertility

Obesity is the root cause of all diseases.