What causes obesity?
Obesity is a medical term that underlines the unnecesary fats in our body. Obesity is the root of different diseases like: diabetes, cancer,gout etc. But, overweight cannot be considered as obesity. A perosn is generally considered as obese when his/her wieght exceeds more then 20% then that of a normal perosn.
Today obesity has been a serious problem in public health. In 1998,World Health Organization has declared obesity as a problem of epidemic proportions. The rate is growing everyday, the latest survery showed that there are billion obese adults and children through out the globe. The reason of obesity can be the poor diet or low physical exercise or genetic but this is seriously growing everyday increasing diseases and decreasing our life expectancy.
Many organizations and health care associations are introducing different weight loss programs and many other weight losing products are available in the market which is found helpful if taken under the prescription of doctors.
What causes obesity?
Generally, obesity is the result of poor diets and null physical exercises. But, only these factors are nor responsible for obesity in many cases.
Heredity:
In many situation heredity plays an important role in developing obesity. Heredity affects our hormones which are responsible for weight gain and loss. Genes affect a number of weight-related processes in the body, such as metabolic rate, blood glucose metabolism, fat-storage, hormones. Leptin is a hormone produced in fat cells, and also in the placenta. Leptin controls weight by signaling the brain to eat less when body fat stores are too high. If, for some reason the body cannot produce enough Leptin, or Leptin cannot signal the brain to eat less, this control is lost, and obesity occurs. The role of Leptin replacement as a treatment for obesity is currently being explored.
Body metabolism:
Some of us have a higher metabolic rate that breaks down food, while others have a much slower metabolic rate and cannot eat much. Especially, women are found to have fewer metabolisms in breaking down the foods then compared to men. When a person with a slow metabolic rate eats too much, they gain weight. As we age, our metabolism slows down, and if we do not change our eating habits, obesity may be the result.
Diet:
The role of carbohydrates in weight gain is not clear. Carbohydrates increase blood glucose levels, which in turn stimulate insulin release by the pancreas, and insulin promotes the growth of fat tissue and can cause weight gain. Some scientists believe that simple carbohydrates (sugars, fructose, desserts, soft drinks, beer, wine, etc.) contribute to weight gain because they are more rapidly absorbed into the blood stream than complex carbohydrates (pasta, brown rice, grains, vegetables, raw fruits, etc.) and thus cause a more pronounced insulin release after meals than complex carbohydrates. This higher insulin release, some scientists believe, contribute to weight gain.
Age:
Our body metabolism changes with the growing age. As we grow old the body metabolism slows down and the body needs only limited amounts of fat and calories. But, many people think that in adult age body becomes weak so they consume more amounts of foods which certainly lead to obesity. People lack physical exercise but consume more which brings obesity.
Eating habit:
Eating habit is considered as a source of obesity. Some people have a habit of eating even if they are not hungry, this is not good because providing more fats and calories then the body demands leads to obesity because these unwanted fats store in our body and gives negative impact to our body
4 major Surgery for obesity:
Bariatric surgery:
Bariatric surgery is a treatment option for those people who are living with morbid obesity. The surgeon recommends this surgery for only those obese people have not yet experienced any weight loss from any other weight loss programs. It is a medical name used for different procedures which includes effective weight loss agenda for the obese people.
Restrictive procedure:
Into this process a small stomach pouch is made by the surgeon that limits the amount of food consumed by the patient. This stomach pouch is filled quickly even with a small amount of food which satisfies the patient even with the less food. Some of the examples are: gastric banding and sleeve gastrectomy.
Malabsorptive Procedure:
During these procedures, the surgeon reroutes the small intestine so that food skips a portion of it. The small intestine absorbs calories and nutrients from food, and avoiding part of it means that some calories and nutrients are not absorbed.
Surgeons rarely perform strictly malabsorptive procedures. Most procedures that use malabsorption also use restriction.
Combination Procedure:
Certain procedures such as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery use a combination of restriction and malabsorption. During this procedure, the surgeon creates a small pouch. The surgeon then attaches a Y-shaped section of the small intestine directly to the stomach pouch. This allows food to bypass a large portion of the small intestine, which absorbs calories and nutrients. The smaller stomach pouch causes patients to feel fuller sooner and eat less food; bypassing a portion of the small intestine means the patient’s body absorbs fewer calories. Some examples of combination procedure are: gastric bypass and Biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch.
The above mentioned methods and procedures help to reduce weight and unnecessary body fats in the patient. But, the surgery of obesity is only done when no other weight loss program works on the patient.
Does Medications works?
Medications are effective and they are of great use. With a successful medication program one can easily reduce 5 pounds of your weight within a month of his treatment. Loss of 10 to 15 percent of in the total weight is seen approximately in every individual who undergo medication.
But, medication has also its limits. Great loss of weight can only be expected when they are taken as directed by doctors. Mean while physical exercise and balanced diet are also recommended because as the medication is discontinued abnormal gain of weight and fatty tissues are observe.
Medications are only suggested to those people whose BMI is greater then 30 or of those people having BMI more then 27 who have other medical problems like: diabetes, high blood pressure etc.
Generally, there are two methods of using medications on obesity.
Single Drug Treatment:
These medications are modestly effective, leading to an average weight loss of 5 to 22 pounds above that expected with non-drug obesity treatments. People respond differently to appetite suppressant medications, and some people experience more weight loss than others. Some obese patients using medication lose more than 10 percent of their starting body weight–an amount of weight loss that may reduce risk factors for obesity-related diseases, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
Maximum weight loss usually occurs within 6 months of starting medication treatment. Weight then tends to level off or increase during the remainder of treatment. Studies suggest that if a patient does not lose at least 4 pounds over 4 weeks on a particular medication, then that medication is unlikely to help the patient achieve significant weight loss. Few studies have looked at how safe or effective these medications are when taken for more than 1 year.
Combined drug treatment:
Combined drug treatment using fenfluramine and phentermine (“fen/phen”) is no longer available due to the withdrawal of fenfluramine from the market. Little information is available about the safety or effectiveness of other drug combinations for weight loss, including flextime/phentermine, phendimetrazine/phentermine, herbal combinations, or others. Until more information on their safety or effectiveness is available, using combinations of medications for weight loss is not recommended except as part of a research study.
Medications are also not free from side effects and injuries. While most side effects of prescription medications for obesity are mild, serious complications have been reported. Valvular heart disease has recently been reported to occur in association with the use of certain appetite suppressant medications. As a result of these reports, the manufacturer has voluntarily withdrawn two medications, fenfluramine (Pondimin) and dexfenfluramine (Redux) from the market.
Best way to avoid obesity:
Physical exercise:
Physical exercises are the most for obesity reduction. People generally neglect exercise and are less conscious about physical work outs but physical work out is only the way to burn down the extra calories in our body in a natural way. If you lack time then you even follow the following points:
Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Park at the far end of the parking lot and walk.
Get off the bus or subway a few stops early and walk the rest of the way.
Walk or bicycle whenever you can.
Monitor your weight time to time.
Exercise can burn calories (average for a standard 70 kg person) as follows:
|
Activity (moderate) |
kcal/minute |
|
chewing gum |
0.2 |
|
walking |
3 |
|
cycling |
4 |
|
dancing |
5 |
|
ice skating |
6 |
|
swimming |
6 |
|
jogging |
10 |
|
shoveling |
15 |
Healthy diets:
The food we consume should be healthy and contain fewer calories.
Balanced and healthy diet.
Eat lots of fruits, and vegetables.
Choose foods low in fat and cholesterol.
Limit your salt intake to less than 2,300 mg each day, especially if you are suffering from high blood pressure.
Quit smoking.
It’s better if you drink lemon water as it helps to cut the fats in natural way.
Source:
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUTORIAL/OBESITY/OBESITY.html
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUTORIAL/OBESITY/OBESITY.html
http://whyfiles.org/067fat/2.html
http://www.medicinenet.com/obesity_weight_loss/page2.htm
http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/933126683.html
