Obesity clinic

01/12/2015

30/05/2014

Can someone develop cancer from obesity? Compelling evidence suggests that yes, obesity causes cancer. However, researchers are still trying to figure out exactly how these two conditions interact.

Obesity Statistics

Obesity statistics show steadily increasing numbers of overweight and obese Americans. The Journal of the American Medical Association (2010) reports that as of 2008, one third of adult Americans were obese. Obesity increases the risk of multiple health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension and cancer.

# In India 30% of the populations is Overweight.

# Nearly 76% Indian urban women and 56% urban men are abdominally obese. Abdominal obesity makes people
prone to diabetic, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular ailments.

# Nearly 21% of Delhi school kids are overweight and 5% of them are obese.

# The danger of early death for fat people is 1.3 to 2 times greater than for ordinary people.

# According to a report of American Cancer Society, half all men and one-third of all women will develop cancer during
their lifetime. However, the risk of developing most types of cancer can be reduced by changes in a person's lifestyle,
such as quitting smoking and a better nutritious diet.


Developing Cancer from Obesity

The link between cancer and obesity isn't universal. Only certain cancers are associated with obesity. According to the American Cancer Society (2003), obesity increases the risk of:
Breast cancer (after menopause)
Cervical cancer
Colon or re**al cancer
Esophageal cancer
Gall bladder cancer
Kidney cancer
Liver cancer
Multiple myeloma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Ovarian cancer
Pancreas cancer
Stomach cancer (in men)
Uterine cancer.
How Obesity Causes Cancer

Exactly how obesity causes cancer is open to debate, although evidence suggests that the cancer's location is just one of the many factors associated with obesity. For instance, obesity affects estrogen levels, perhaps explaining why women can develop uterine cancer from obesity. Obesity also increases the risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease, a known risk factor for esophageal cancer.

Mortality Rates, Cancer and Obesity

Cancer risk factors affect both treatment options and mortality rates. The American Cancer Society (2008) reports that about 14 to 20 percent of cancer deaths in the U.S. can be attributed to excess weight or obesity problems. The report concludes that well over one third of Americans are now overweight, with overweight prevalence more than tripling among adolescents over the past 20 years alone.

Preventing Cancer from Obesity

Since cancer risk increases with obesity, losing weight may lower your risk of obesity-related cancers, among other health benefits. Even a small weight loss can improve health and lower the risk of diabetes or other conditions related to obesity.

While significant research indicates that obesity causes cancer, relatively few studies have determined whether weight loss actually lowers this risk. The increased risk of cancer in the obese suggests that weight loss could reduce cancer risk, but no larger scale clinical trials have explicitly described the relationship between the two.

28/05/2014

What Does It Actually Mean to Be Overweight or Obese?

At their most basic, the words “overweight” and “obesity” are ways to describe having too much body fat.

The most commonly used measure of weight status today is the body mass index, or BMI.

BMI uses a simple calculation based on the ratio of someone’s height and weight (BMI = kg/m2). Decades of research have shown that BMI provides a good estimate of “fatness” and also correlates well with important health outcomes like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and overall mortality.
Healthy BMI Ranges for Adults and Children

What’s considered a healthy BMI?

For adult men and women, a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered healthy.
Overweight is defined as a BMI between 25.0 and 29.9; and a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.
As in adults, obesity is also a growing problem in children and adolescents. Because children grow at different rates, depending on their age and gender, the definitions of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents differ from those in adults.

In the U.S., for example, the definition is based on standard growth charts developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In children and adolescents age 2 to 20 years old, a BMI in the 85th to 94th percentiles for age and gender is considered overweight; a BMI in the 95th percentile or higher is considered obese.
Waist Size Matters: Abdominal Obesity

One important category of obesity not captured by BMI is so-called “abdominal obesity”—the extra fat found around the middle that is an important factor in health, even independent of BMI.

The simplest and most often used measure of abdominal obesity is waist size. Guidelines generally define abdominal obesity in women as a waist size 35 inches or higher, and in men as a waist size of 40 inches or higher.
Measuring Body Fat

There are a number of ways to measure body fat. Some are well suited to the doctor’s office, such as calculating a person’s BMI. Other, more complex methods require specialized equipment, such as magnetic resonance imaging or dual energy X-ray absorptiometry machines; while these machines can measure body fat very accurately, they are typically only used for this purpose in research settings.

Globally, there are 1.5 billion adults who are either overweight or obese, a number expected to increase to 3 billion by 2030. The epidemic is reaching catastrophic proportions, and one of the key—if small— steps to bringing it under control is to have a common language to describe the problem.

28/05/2014

Health Effects of Obesity

Obesity has a far-ranging negative effect on health. Each year obesity-related conditions cost over 150 billion dollars and cause an estimated 300,000 premature deaths in the US. The health effects associated with obesity include, but are not limited to, the following:

high blood pressure -

Additional fat tissue in the body needs oxygen and nutrients in order to live, which requires the blood vessels to circulate more blood to the fat tissue. This increases the workload of the heart because it must pump more blood through additional blood vessels. More circulating blood also means more pressure on the artery walls. Higher pressure on the artery walls increases the blood pressure. In addition, extra weight can raise the heart rate and reduce the body's ability to transport blood through the vessels.

diabetes -

Obesity is the major cause of type 2 diabetes. This type of diabetes usually begins in adulthood but, is now actually occurring in children. Obesity can cause resistance to insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. When obesity causes insulin resistance, the blood sugar becomes elevated. Even moderate obesity dramatically increases the risk of diabetes.

heart disease -

Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) is present 10 times more often in obese people compared to those who are not obese. Coronary artery disease is also more prevalent because fatty deposits build up in arteries that supply the heart. Narrowed arteries and reduced blood flow to the heart can cause chest pain (angina) or a heart attack. Blood clots can also form in narrowed arteries and cause a stroke.

joint problems, including osteoarthritis -

Obesity can affect the knees and hips because of the stress placed on the joints by extra weight. Joint replacement surgery, while commonly performed on damaged joints, may not be an advisable option for an obese person because the artificial joint has a higher risk of loosening and causing further damage.

sleep apnea and respiratory problems -

Sleep apnea, which causes people to stop breathing for brief periods, interrupts sleep throughout the night and causes sleepiness during the day. It also causes heavy snoring. Respiratory problems associated with obesity occur when added weight of the chest wall squeezes the lungs and causes restricted breathing. Sleep apnea is also associated with high blood pressure.

cancer -

In women, being overweight contributes to an increased risk for a variety of cancers including breast, colon, gallbladder, and uterus. Men who are overweight have a higher risk of colon and prostate cancers.

metabolic syndrome -

The National Cholesterol Education Program has identified metabolic syndrome as a complex risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Metabolic syndrome consists of six major components: abdominal obesity, elevated blood cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance with or without glucose intolerance, elevation of certain blood components that indicate inflammation, and elevation of certain clotting factors in the blood. In the US, approximately one-third of overweight or obese persons exhibit metabolic syndrome.

psychosocial effects -

In a culture where often the ideal of physical attractiveness is to be overly thin, people who are overweight or obese frequently suffer disadvantages. Overweight and obese persons are often blamed for their condition and may be considered to be lazy or weak-willed. It is not uncommon for overweight or obese conditions to result in persons having lower incomes or having fewer or no romantic relationships. Disapproval of overweight persons expressed by some individuals may progress to bias, discrimination, and even torment.