Numerous conditions and diseases affecting body systems can be traced to weight issues. People who are obese have been evaluated based on measurements of their waists and their body mass indexes. The BMI measures the relationship of a person’s weight to her height. A BMI of 30 or greater is considered obese; people of normal weight have BMIs between 18.5 and 24.9. The link between obesity and cardiovascular disease has long been established and reiterated with subsequent research. More recent studies have associated obesity with other chronic conditions and risky behaviors that result in health crises.
Respiratory System
Carrying extra pounds on your frame can be dangerous to you, even while you sleep. Obesity contributes significantly to obstructive sleep apnea, a condition in which you cease breathing for periods of time while sleeping. Excess amounts of fat cover the areas around the throat, essentially narrowing the airway and reducing the intake of air. Obesity in children frequently precedes asthma, a swelling of the airways, in early adulthood. Fat tissue produces chemicals that inflame the air passages.
Diabetes
Fat cells may harbor a single protein responsible for some cases of type 2 diabetes. Matthew Watt, associate professor at Monash University, and colleagues report that fat cells secrete a protein called pigment epithelium-derived factor, or PEDF, which causes the pancreas to pump out greater amounts of insulin, the hormone responsible for regulating blood sugar levels. The study was published in 2009 in the journal “Cell Metabolism.” This high-level production eventually wears out the pancreas, preventing it from releasing sufficient amounts of insulin. Insulin causes fat, liver and muscle tissues to take up sugar from the blood; too much sugar in the blood leads to type 2 diabetes. By blocking the release of PEDF, the researchers could return pancreatic activity to normal.
Cancer
Obese women have a 1.5 times greater chance of developing breast cancer after menopause than women of normal weight. Estrogen, a hormone that has been linked to breast cancer risk, is secreted in significant amounts by fat tissue, particularly after menopause, when the ovaries no longer produce hormones. Doctors also have a harder time detecting breast tumor masses in obese women; thus, these tumors are not diagnosed until they have reached more advanced and less treatable stages. In women, greater BMIs are also associated with uterine and a type of kidney cancer, with obese women having two to four times greater chances of developing either disease. Women who are obese tend to develop more gallstones, leading to an increase in gall-bladder cancers, while obese men have higher incidences of colon cancer than their normal-weight counterparts.
Effects on the Brain
Brain deterioration runs along a one-way street; you cannot recover cognitive functions once you have lost them. The most effective way to keep your mental faculties intact as you age lies in preventing their loss in the first place. Obesity has been linked to the deterioration of brain function. In research published in the journal “Obesity” in 2010, Dr. Andreana Haley and colleagues discovered that the same mechanism leading to type 2 diabetes in adults can also impair mental function. The researchers found that overweight people in their middle ages -- from the ages of 40 to 60 -- had more problems recalling items from their short-term memories than people of normal weight.
Sexual Behavior and Health
Obesity can have a negative effect on your sexual health and behaviors, according to a 2010 study published in the “British Medical Journal.” Dr. Nathalie Bajos and colleagues surveyed more than 12,000 French-speaking men and women comprising four categories of BMI. Women who were obese had 30 percent fewer sexual partners than their thinner counterparts; even among those with sexual partners, only 14 percent reporting having a sexual encounter in the most recent month. Obese women favored less effective means of birth control such as the withdrawal method over safer ones such as the pill or condoms, resulting in greater incidences of abortions and accidental pregnancies. Increasing BMIs also resulted in decreasing libidos for women. Obese men had higher incidences of abnormal sexual conditions such as erectile dysfunction, along with more reports of sexually transmitted diseases.
References
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; The Practical Guide: Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults; October 2000
- “Canadian Medical Association Journal”; The Effect of Obesity on Chronic Respiratory Diseases: Pathophysiology and Therapeutic Strategies; Magali Poulain, et al.; April 2006
- ScienceDaily; Critical Link Between Obesity and Diabetes Discovered; July 9, 2009
- National Cancer Institute; Obesity and Cancer: Questions and Answers; March 16, 2004
- University of Texas at Austin; The Skinny on Memory Loss; Jessica Sinn; May 2, 2011
- “British Medical Journal”; Sexuality and Obesity, a Gender Perspective: Results from French National Random Probability Survey of Sexual Behaviours; Nathalie Bajos, et al.; April 2010
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