health and safety: Obesity can lead to diabetes and other serious health implications. So watch out

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Obesity can lead to diabetes and other serious health implications. So watch out

Amitabh Baxi

I STUMBLED upon an interesting terminology at recent interaction with a leading endocrinologist of the Capital. He was talking about ‘diabesity’ — a term derived after studying the role of obesity in the spread of diabetes, in the backdrop of the fact that India is now among the top 10 0most obese countries in India.
    The linkage evoked my curiosity. Not because it’s something new. Far from it. Traditional wisdom always had it that ‘You are what you eat’. What intrigued me was the conscious choice we prefer to indulge in: Putting taste before health, we first spend money buying greasy, fatty junk food, land ourselves with a host of health-related problems, including obesity, and then spend money on how to lose it by going to gyms and health clinics.
    That’s no logic, folks. But a hard reality. Stats spell out the bulging problem: The prevalence of obesity in India is estimated at 35.5% in males and 48.6% in females, while the overall prevalence is 42.7%. What’s worse, reports have it that over 17% of children today are obese and 85% children diagnosed with type II diabetes are overweight or obese.
    So, what’s the bottomline, you may ask. Well, obesity is bad news as it causes a high risk of diseases such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease, among others. Studies also indicate that the likelihood of developing cancer is greater among those who weigh more than 35% above their ideal body weight.
    Dr Ambrish Mithal, senior consultant, endocrinology at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, feels that the problem of obesity is quite severe among Indians and blames it on the shift from rural to urban lifestyle. “Physical inactivity and the fast food culture are taking a toll on the nation’s health,” he says.
    Put simply, obesity is defined as the excess storage of energy in the body, in the form of fat. Overweight implies weighing more than a given standard level of height and weight. Body fat results from many factors such as diet, hormonal balance, genetic predisposition, physical exercise, basal metabolism and others. The condition, interestingly, strikes both young and old alike and children who are obese are at greater risk of becoming obese adults. Which means that the risk of falling prey to lifestyle diseases like diabetes is much higher in them.
    Doctors already note a doubling of the prevalence of obesity, and diabetes, among children and describe it as the twin epidemics presenting the biggest public health challenge in the 21st century. Explaining the concept of Syndrome X — a condition where poor lifestyle and obesity make an individual vulnerable to diseases — Dr Mithal cautions that overweight people (body mass index of 25 and above) are also at an increased risk for diseases such as high blood pressure, hypertension, high blood cholesterol, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, coronary heart disease, stroke, gout, osteoarthritis, obstructive sleep apnea and respiratory problems and poor female reproductive health. Another little known fact is that obesity may lead to psychological disorders such as stress which, in turn, makes people over-eat. This gives rise to social factors such as teasing and isolation which may contribute to depression and lead to loss of selfesteem. In fact, several studies conducted in Delhi schools have found clear sociological and behavioural problems with obese children who preferred seclusion. As a way out, experts feel that children need to be explained the ill-effects of obesity and the role of good diet and physical activity in their lifestyle. Right changes made right at the beginning will help nip the problem in the bud and save future health and financial losses, they add. Well, that’s food for thought! amitabh.

baxi @timesgroup .com CHECK THAT
WHO has formulated an index for defining obesity. Known as the body mass index (BMI), it is based on a person’s height in meters and weight in kgs. This classification works for all persons except those at the extremes of height or muscle mass, where body proportions affect the calculation.