The Story of Obesity

Obesity is a complex disease with multiple causes that results in an unhealthy and inappropriate accumulation of stored fat in the body. Obesity substantially increases the risk for many associated diseases including high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, heart disease, and cancer. It will soon overcome smoking as the number one cause of preventable death in the United States.

The epidemic of obesity threatens the health of millions of Americans. Over 100 million Americans are overweight (two-thirds of the population), 60 million people are obese (nearly 33 percent), and 11 million people are severely or morbidly obese and the numbers continue to rise. Healthcare costs in the United States for obesity-related diseases are approaching $100 billion dollars annually, approximately 5.5 percent of the total annual health care costs.

Thirty percent of U.S. adolescents are overweight and 15 percent are obese. Childhood obesity has doubled in the last several decades, and we know that 75 percent of obese children will become obese adults. Click here to view updated statistics on overweight and obesity in the U.S. on American Obesity Association.

What Causes Obesity?

The exact cause of obesity remains unknown, but there are many plausible theories. We do know that obesity is a disease and not simply a character defect. The drive to eat is a very powerful biological drive. There appears to be a command center in the brain which controls food intake like a thermostat controls temperature. Obese patients seem to have too high a set point of this appetite control system, so they take in more calories than they need to maintain their ideal body weight. There are multiple factors that play a role in the development of obesity:

• Genetic or inherited factors
• Strong familial component to obesity
• Dysfunction of genes that regulate metabolism, appetite and satiety
• Behavioral or psychological factors
• Using food as a coping mechanism
• Emotional eating 
• Eating disorders such as binge eating and others
• Learned eating behavior
• Medical or endocrine causes
• Cultural or environmental causes
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Technology reduces our daily activity (TV remote, elevator)
• High-calorie food readily available and inexpensive
  

Unfortunately, obesity is the last socially acceptable form of discrimination. The misconception that an obese person is weak and has poor eating habits hampers their ability to obtain reasonable health insurance coverage of their disease. Lack of respect for the obese person is a serious problem. In a survey of obese individuals, 80 percent reported disrespectful treatment by their doctor. There are widespread negative attitudes that obese people are lazy, weak-willed, ugly, awkward, self-indulgent and immoral. This intense prejudice transects age, sex, religion, race and socioeconomic status. Numerous studies have documented the stigmatization of obese persons in most areas of social functioning. Obesity represents a management challenge for physicians and a psychological and biological challenge for patients. Obese people often consider their condition to be a greater handicap than deafness, dyslexia or blindness.

What are the Risks of Obesity?

Once a person becomes severely overweight, diet and exercise programs have dismal long-term results. Many people lose weight in the short term, but they gain it all back and then some. For those people, weight loss surgery is the only effective long term solution. The main problem associated with being overweight is a higher chance for early death. When people are overweight or obese, they are more likely to develop health problems such as the following:

• Hypertension
• Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
• Type 2 diabetes
• Coronary heart disease
• Stroke
• Gallbladder disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
• Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)

The more overweight a person is, the more likely that person is to have health problems. Among people who are overweight and obese, weight loss can help reduce the chances of developing health problems. Studies show that if a person is overweight or obese, reducing body weight by 5 percent to 10 percent can improve one’s health. Most people who have had weight loss surgery found it to be the only thing that allowed them to keep the weight off long-term. It is important to understand that weight loss surgery is not magic and does not work by itself. Weight loss surgery is a tool to help people lose weight. It is a powerful tool, and for most, the only tool that helps them successfully control their weight, but like all tools it works best if used correctly. Northwest Weight Loss Surgery is dedicated to providing continuing support for our patients to assist in achieving optimal results after laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (LAGB) surgery. Weight loss surgery is not cosmetic or plastic surgery. It does not involve removing extra tissue. Weight loss surgery basically dims your appetite allowing you to feel full and satisfied with smaller amounts of food. It is incorrect to think that you don’t have to put any effort into losing weight. Weight loss surgery makes it much easier because you are less hungry and experience fullness on smaller amounts of food. Improved health is not the only benefit to weight loss surgery. Quality of life improves both physically and emotionally.