Obesity: Causes and effects on the body

Joshua Kinta

Obesity Statistics:

Incidence: As per the W.H.O. report, 30% of the people in western countries are
suffering from obesity. Out of the 6 billion people in the world, 1 billion are
obese people. The other side of it is 1billion people are without sufficient
food and living in poverty. Obesity epidemic is gradually on rise in developing
countries also due to fast growing economies.

Obesity Causes:

1. Modern life: Due to sedentary habits with little exercise is the main reason
behind increased incidence of Obesity.
2. Fast food restaurants: These restaurants are growing in number in leaps and
bounds. People are taking more junk and fatty foods. Due to these diet habits,
more fat is stored in the body causing obesity.
3. Alcohol causes fatty liver and thereby more fat is stored in the body.
Patient becomes obese.
The main trouble with many people is they consider obesity as a cosmetic problem
rather than disease. But the truth is obesity is a chronic disease due to
deposition of more fat in the body.
The important thing is over weight is not a disease but obesity is a disease.
But the line of differentiation between the two is very thin.
4. Experts opinion:
A famous doctor says that obesity simply a bad news for both body and mind.
Another doctor says: Asians have more body fat, is not that they eat more but
move less.
5. Other Causes of Obesity:
A. Increasing affluence
B. Little outdoor activity
C. Spending more time watching television and playing computer games.
6. Emotions: Can they cause obesity, but how?

People tend to eat more, when they are;

1. Upset
2. Anxious
3. under stress
4. Feel boredom.
To quell these feelings they eat more. This becomes a vicious cycle.
7. Hereditary: Small parts of the DNA that people inherit from their parents
that determine the weight gain in them. These genes do not tell our body how to
utilize extra calories.
8. Nutrition and pregnancy: One theory is that when children are under nourished
in the womb of their mother, when become adults, they usually develop abdominal
fat, even with the normal diet. This put them at greater risk of obesity related
illnesses.
9. In Asians: Asians evolved a so called ''thrift gene'' after living for
thousands of years under near-famine conditions. Their bodies are,
paradoxically, metabolically, efficient to deal with the relative abundance of
modern life. It is a genetic trait.

Effects of Obesity on the body:
Obesity causes following diseases:
1. Diabetes
2. Heart problems
3. Rise in blood pressure
4. Incidence of some cancers is more in Obese people.

How to control Obesity:

1. Doing exercise - Walking is the best and simple exercise.
2. Eat more fruits and vegetables
3. Taking less fatty foods.
4. Meditation and Yoga
5. Controlling stress and strain