Obesity killing millions around the world every year!

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions worldwide and is killing around 2.8 million people every year, according to international health experts. Globalisation has brought fast food culture to Chinese cities, contributing to major obesity problems. A study in 2006 found that over one-fifth of the one billion obese or overweight people in the world are Chinese, Xinhua reported. One of the fattest nations in the developed world, Australia also shares this obesity problem. If Australians’ weight gain continues at current levels, almost 80 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by 2025, according to Monash University.

To discuss the problem of obesity and evaluate a solution being developed by the Public Health Association of Australia, international nutrition experts met at an obesity and nutrition conference in Sydney. The rise of multinational fast food outlets has been a key change in our environment leading to fatter foods and fatter people, said Bruce Neal, professor at the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney. ‘As fast as we get rid of all our traditional vectors of disease — infections, little microbes, bugs — we are replacing them with the new vectors of disease, which are massive transnational, national, multinational corporations selling vast amounts of salt, fat and sugar,’ Neal said.

Over time, consumers in developed countries have become acculturated to larger serving sizes that are well above what’s necessary for an enjoyable, sensible and nutritious meal, said Tim Gill, associate professor at the University of Sydney’s Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders.

‘People will consume a portion that’s put in front of them. People will seek value by purchasing the largest portion size, because it’s relatively cheap compared to the smaller size. We’ve just had a disconnect in terms of what we need to eat and what we can purchase,’ he said.

Read: The food pyramid – the secret to eating healthy

A 2005 study by American scientists found that diners who ate from a bowl of soup that kept refilling would not only eat far more than normal, but they did not notice that they had eaten more, and did not feel more sated. Most shoppers base their food choices on price rather than nutritional value, with lower socio-economic status consumers more likely to eat high energy-dense foods such as sugary drinks, said Marion Hetherington, a professor of biopsychology at the University of Leeds.

However, Jennie Brand-Miller, a professor at the University of Sydney’s School of Molecular Bioscience, said low-fat diets may not in fact be best for our health. ‘Low-fat dietary advice has not been helpful on a population level. It is consistently associated with weight regain. It does not reduce the risk of chronic disease,’ said Brand-Miller.

‘We need to pay more importance to protein. Protein is satiating, and we’ve undervalued it. We need to pay more attention to the sources of carbohydrate — we need to switch from high GI to low GI carbohydrates,’ she said. At the heart of the obesity issue is the question of responsibility, and whether it’s up to the consumers to look after their own needs, or industry to provide more healthy foods. ‘In Britain, the public health responsibility has been an important initiative in the sense that companies will sign up, they will pledge to reduce the amount of calories in their food, to reduce the amount of salt,’ said Hetherington. By lowering salt, sugar and calorie content of their foods independently, industry will not face competitive pressure caused by only some producers providing more healthy foods in the marketplace, she said.

Here are the top five diseases that afflicts obese people: 

Diabetes

Diabetes is a metabolic disease which is characterised by high blood sugar levels. It can be caused either due to the lack of insulin (type 1 diabetes) or because the body’s cells fail to respond to the insulin produced (type 2 diabetes). Some of the common symptoms of diabetes are hunger, frequent urination and increased thirst. While type 1 diabetes is usually genetic, type 2 diabetes is caused more by lifestyle factors. It is one of the common ‘lifestyle diseases’ which is plaguing people in the developed countries and often has a causal link to heart diseases, hypertension and obesity.

Read more about causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes.

Cardiovascular disease

Heart disease or cardiovascular disease refers to a group of diseases that involve the heart and/ or blood vessels. Some of the more common ones are coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke and peripheral arterial disease. While susceptibility to heart diseases increases with age, gender, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, stress there are many things we can do to improve our cardiovascular health. A low fat, high fibre diet with fruits and veggies, quitting smoking and giving up alcohol coupled with increased physical activity and less stress can go a long way in improving cardiovascular health.  

Read more about causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.

Hypertension

Hypertension or high blood pressure is one of the most common lifestyle diseases. Blood flows through our arteries with pressure. This pressure is determined by the pumping of the heart as well as resistance to the flow of blood by the arteries. Due to genetics, high cholesterol or other reasons, the wall of the blood vessels get thickened leading to increased resistance for the blood to flow. This causes the blood pressure to go up causing hypertension. Elevated blood pressure is linked to a variety of diseases – coronary artery diseases, heart diseases, stroke, kidney diseases, vision loss and erectile dysfunction. High BP can be curtailed by exercising more, eating right, with antihypertensives and by keeping stress at bay.

Read more about causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of hypertension.

Arthritis

Arthritis is a joint disorder that causes the inflammation of one or more joints. The pain is caused due to the inflammation around the joints. Some of the types of arthritis include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, etc. Osteoarthritis is the most common form – caused due to overuse or injury – and can affect all joints. The other forms can either be genetic, caused due to skin conditions (psoriatic), immune disorder (rheumatoid) or by deposition of uric acid (gout). Almost 50 million people around the world are affected by one form or another. 

Sleep apnoea

Sleep apnoea (apnea in American English) is a sleep disorder characterised by abnormal breathing. They can be classified as obstructive, central or mixed sleep apnoea. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is caused by a blockage in the airway and is usually characterised by snoring. Various studies have linked OSA to heart diseases, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, depression and obesity. On the other hand central sleep apnoea is usually characterised by low breathing which can indicate less blood flow. This leads to a drop in blood oxygen which causes seizures, angina, heart attacks and even death.

 With inputs from IANS

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