What is the problem with being fat?
According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic, one of the world’s leading centres of medical excellence, obese people are at increased risk of getting one or more of the following conditions:*
- -Type 2 diabetes
- -Cardiovascular disease
- -Stroke
- -Hypertension
- -Gallbladder disease (very unpleasant)
- -Deterioration of the cartilage and bone in joints – ie osteoarthritis
- -Sleep apnea
- -Asthma
- -Certain cancers
- -High cholesterol
- -If you’re a woman you may suffer menstrual irregularities
- -Stress incontinence – i.e. you pee in your pants when becoming stressed
Also according to the Mayo Clinic, obesity increases the risks associated with surgery.
Finally, if you’re fat you may be stigmatised and this may lead to psychological depression.
There may be some double counting here. For example, hypertension increases the risk of stroke and high cholesterol levels increase the risk of heart attack. However, by and large, the list paints a depressing picture for fatties.*
It gets worse. Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease. So being fat increases your risk of getting type 2 diabetes which in turn increases your chances of getting Alzheimer’s.
Is there any single number that quantifies the risks associated with obesity?
Dr. Gary Whitlock an epidemiologist at Oxford University lead a study to determine how many years even moderate obesity can subtract from your life. The study’s depressing finding. Even moderate obesity – defined as having a body mass index (BMI) in the range 30 – 35 reduces life expectancy by about three years. Severe obesity – BMI 40 – 50 – will on average subtract 10 years, a full decade, from your life expectancy.
But, of course, long before obesity kills you it will make your life disagreeable. Just how disagreeable will be the subject of later posts.
Seriously, you don’t need me to tell you that being fat is not nice. But it helps to spell it out.
*Summarised from Fitness for Everybody, edited by Diane Dahm M.D. and Jay Smith M.D., published by the Mayo Clinic, 2005, page 8
Tags: obesity