Obesity

Obesity And Overweight

What are obesity and overweight

Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.Body mass index (BMI) is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify overweight and obesity in adults. It is defined as a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters (kg/m²).

Adults

For adults, WHO defines overweight and obesity as follows:

• Overweight is a BMI greater than or equal to 25;   and
• Obesity is a BMI greater than or equal to 30.

BMI provides the most useful population-level measure of overweight and obesity as it is the same for both sexes and for all ages of adults. However, it should be considered a rough guide because it may not correspond to the same degree of fatness in different individuals.

For children, age needs to be considered when defining overweight and obesity.

Facts about Overweight and Obesity

• Some recent WHO global estimates follow.
• In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults aged 18 years and older were overweight. Of these over 650 million adults were obese.
• In 2016, 39% of adults aged 18 years and over (39% of men and 40% of women) were overweight.
• Overall, about 13% of the world’s adult population (11% of men and 15% of women) were obese in 2016.
• The worldwide prevalence of obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2016.
• In 2019, an estimated 38.2 million children under the age of 5 years were overweight or obese. Once considered a high-income country problem, overweight and obesity are now on the rise in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings. In Africa, the number of overweight children under 5 has increased by nearly 24% percent since 2000. Almost half of the children under 5 who were overweight or obese in 2019 lived in Asia.
• Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016.
• The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 5-19 has risen dramatically from just 4% in 1975 to just over 18% in 2016. The rise has occurred similarly among both boys and girls: in 2016 18% of girls and 19% of boys were overweight.
• While just under 1% of children and adolescents aged 5-19 were obese in 1975, more 124 million children and adolescents (6% of girls and 8% of boys) were obese in 2016.
• Overweight and obesity are linked to more deaths worldwide than underweight. Globally there are more people who are obese than underweight – this occurs in every region except parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
  

What causes obesity and overweight?

• The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended. Globally, there has been:
• an increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat and sugars; and
• an increase in physical inactivity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization.
• Changes in dietary and physical activity patterns are often the result of environmental and societal changes associated with development and lack of supportive policies in sectors such as health, agriculture, transport, urban planning, environment, food processing, distribution, marketing, and education.
  
  

  What are common health consequences of overweight and obesity?
  
  

  • What are common health consequences of overweight and obesity?
  • Raised BMI is a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases such as:
  • cardiovascular diseases (mainly heart disease and stroke), which were the leading cause of death in 2012;
  • diabetes;
  • musculoskeletal disorders (especially osteoarthritis – a highly disabling degenerative disease of the joints);
  • some cancers (including endometrial, breast, ovarian, prostate, liver, gallbladder, kidney, and colon).
  • The risk for these noncommunicable diseases increases, with increases in BMI.
  • Childhood obesity is associated with a higher chance of obesity, premature death and disability in adulthood. But in addition to increased future risks, obese children experience breathing difficulties, increased risk of fractures, hypertension, early markers of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and psychological effects.
    

   

  Bariatric Surgery Procedures

• Weight loss surgery is also known as bariatric and metabolic surgery. These terms are used in order to reflect the impact of these operations on patients’ weight and the health of their metabolism (breakdown of food into energy). In addition to their ability to treat obesity, these operations are very effective in treating diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and high cholesterol, among many other diseases. These operations also have an ability to prevent future health problems. The benefits allow patients with obesity who choose to undergo treatment to enjoy a better quality of life and a longer lifespan.
• Today’s metabolic and bariatric operations have been refined over the course of many decades and are among the best studied treatments in modern medicine. They are performed with small incisions using minimally invasive surgical techniques (laparoscopic and robotic surgery). These advancements allow patients to have a better overall experience with less pain, fewer complications, shorter hospital stays and a faster recovery. These operations are extremely safe, with complication rates that are lower than common operations such as gallbladder removal, hysterectomy, and hip replacement.
• The goal of these operations is to modify the stomach and intestines to treat obesity and related diseases. The operations may make the stomach smaller and also bypass a portion of the intestine. This results in less food intake and changes how the body absorbs food for energy resulting in decreased hunger and increased fullness. These procedures improve the body’s ability to achieve a healthy weight.
• The common procedures endorsed by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery are listed and explained below. Each surgery has its own advantages and potential drawbacks. Your bariatric surgeon will review your health history and work with you to determine which surgery is best for you.