OBESITY AND RELATED DISORDERS: #WHY BEING OVERWEIGHT MATTERS

People who eat more than they need to cover their nutrient needs are likely to become overweight or obese. Overweight( Obesity) means that the person is too heavy for their height.Thus, their weight is above the range of weights of healthy people.

A few very active people are overweight because they have developed large muscles. You can usually see if a person is overweight because of the muscles. Most people who are overweight are too fat. Being too fat is called obesity.

          HOW TO RECOGNIZE OBESITY

ADULTS:

• Examine the person. It is easy to see if someone is very obese.
• Measure height and weight ( calculate the person's body mass index(BMI)  

eg: BMI= Weight in kg

                  (Height in metres)
Hanah weighs 55kg her height is 160cm
   so her BMI=




If the BMI is:

• below 16, the person is undernourished;
• 16-18.5, the person is possibly undernourished;
• 18.5-25, the person is probably well nourished;
• 25-30, the person is possibly obese;
• over 30, the person is obese.  

A quick way to tell if a person is obese is to find out if his waist is bigger than his chest. If it is, he is obese.

CHILDREN     

• Examine the child, it is very easy to identify obesity in kids
• Measu.re weight-for-height
• Measure weight-for-age if it's not possible to measure the child's height    

       WHY BEING OVERWEIGHT MATTERS

People who are overweight are at greater risk of several disorders. These include: 

• coronary heart disease;
• strokes:
• adult-type diabetes;
• gall stones and other digestive disorders
• back problems;
• arthritis of the knee and hip.    

   WHY PEOPLE BECOME OBESE

People become obese when they eat more calories than they burn for energy. The extra calories are 

changed into storage fat.

People eat many calories when;

• they eat large amounts of food at each meal;
• they eat a lot of energy-rich foods at each meal such as; fatty foods, especially these which contain little fiber e.g cooking oil, butter, margarine, and fried foods.
• they eat energy-rich snack between meals;
• they drink a lot of beer.

     DISORDERS RELATED TO OBESITY

• Atheroma and thrombosis

Over several years, patches of fat build up in the lining of some arteries, making them narrower. This is called atheroma. Sometimes a clot of blood for,ms where  there is a patch of atheroma, and it blocks the artery completely. This is thrombosis. When an artery is blocked, the part of the body which it supplies receives too little food and oxygen. it cannot work properly, and may die. If an artery in the heart is blocked, the person has coronary heart disease ( CHD) or ischaemic heart disease (IHD). If an artery in the brain is blocked, the person has stroke and may be paralysed down one side of the body.  

• Coronary heart diseases

Usually, a patch of atheroma has been quietly building up in the blood vessels for several years. The person has severe chest pain on exercise, which posses when he rests. He may become unable to do much physical work. He may have a 'heart attack',when part of the heart is damaged, and he may die suddenly.

    This is one of the commonest diseases associated with a modern " Westernized diet and life style". It is one of the main causes of death and disability among middle aged adults.

• Diabetes

In diabetes, the level of glucose in the blood is too high, and glucose is passed in the urine. A hormone insulin controls the movement of glucose from the blood into the body cells. Obesity interferes with the action of insulin and is one of the causes of diabetes in adults to reduce obesity. Fiber may help to protect against adult diabetes and may be helpful in control. Fiber in food slows down the digestion and absorption of sugars. The body can more easily control the glucose if it comes into the blood slowly.

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