The Danger of Obesity for Health
Obesity or overweight, is a medical condition in the form of excess body fat. There are impacts and dangers of obesity which are detrimental to health because it can cause various diseases to reduce life expectancy.
Most of the causes of obesity are a combination of excess food energy intake and lack of physical activity. In addition, the increasing dependence of people on energy-dense and fast food containing carbohydrates, sugar or fat also increases the risk of obesity.
Obesity is related to weight and height. For adults, what is also important is belly circumference. Even though your height and weight are balanced, you don't want your stomach to be distended like gentlemen, the maximum circumference for men is 90 cm, while for women it is 80 cm.
If it's more than that, then there will be a lot of visceral fat or fat contained in the lining of the intestinal tissue which will potentially contribute to diseases related to obesity.
Someone is said to be overweight if their BMI is greater than 25. However, if the number reaches 30 or more, it means that they are already in the obesity category to watch out for.
In general obesity can be divided into two major groups namely:
- Obesity Android Type (central): experienced by many men with a fat body like a barrel, stomach protruding forward. The risks that arise include coronary heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
- Obesity Ginoid Type: many in women, especially those who have entered menopause. Its characteristics are large hips and buttocks, from afar it looks like a pear.
Obesity can increase the risk of certain diseases which are also triggered by excessive food intake, lack of physical activity, genetic susceptibility, endocrine disorders, drugs, to psychiatric diseases. People with obesity, especially in the abdominal or waist area, have a higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome. In addition, metabolic syndrome is also related to insulin resistance. Normally, the digestive system can break down food into sugar (glucose). Metabolic syndrome is a serious condition because it puts sufferers at high risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and diseases related to the accumulation of fat in the artery walls.
Here are some of the dangers of obesity for the body:
- Heart disease and stroke
- Diabetes
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Certain cancers
- Osteoarthritis
- Asthma
- High blood pressure
- Digestive and liver problems
- Kidney failure
- Varices
- Reduced quality of life
Obesity prevention must be an important agenda in public health, especially in children and adolescents. Generally obesity starts at a young age, and results in the emergence of obesity at a young age.
Therefore, awareness of healthy living with ideal body weight is the main key to fighting obesity by preventing it from an early age.