OBESITY

Obesity is widely regarded as a pandemic with potentially disastrous consequences for human health. The prevalence of obesity has increased threefold within the last 20 years and continues to rise. In developing countries, average national rates of obesity are not nearly so high, but these figures disguise high rates of obesity in many urban communities. It has adverse effects on both morality and morbidity. Changes in morality are difficult to analyze due to the cofounding effects of lower body weight in cigarette smokers. The only medical benefit of obesity is seen in osteoporosis where bone density increase in response to increased mechanical stress. Society also suffers from the effects of obesity-related disability and early retirement. Weight tends to increase throughout life as basal metabolic rate and physical activity decrease. Well documented increases have occurred in portion sizes, particularly of energy –dense foods such as drinks with high refined sugar content and high fat snacks. Obesity is correlated positively with the number of hours spent watching television and inversely with levels of physical activity. The health risks of obesity are largely reversible. All interventions which have been proven to reduce weight in well conducted studies in obese patient’s .Lifestyle advice which lowers body weight and increase physical exercise reduces the diabetes. Bariatric surgery to reduce the size of the stomach is by far the most effective long-term treatment for obesity. Obesity must not be treated in isolation and other risk factors must be addressed, including smoking, excess alcohol consumption and hypertension