Obesity; the misunderstood condition.

Obesity,according to Oxford Dictionary is the condition in which excess fat has accumulated in the subcutaneous tissues. A scientific and more detailed definition is when the body mass index (BMI) 30.0 or above .

However, Is obesity an issue that is disregarded by the society ? As a matter of fact ,obesity is a threat as it is the main cause of coronary heart disease (CHD).

This arises when fatty deposits on the walls of the heart arteries accumulate and prevent blood flow. Heart Disease remains the leading cause of death for the lasts 20 years according to the

World Health organisation (WHO) with the death rate increased from 2 million in 2000 to 9 million in 2019. Obesity may also be the cause of vaious mental illness including depression, anxiety disorder and eating disorders.

Depression may arise as a result of weight-based bullying. In Italy, a 2015 study involving 947 elementary school kids were carried out. 44.4 % of kids with severe obesity experienced name calling with 21% facing physical victimisation and 18.5% were not excluded from social activities.

All these bullying may also lead to a negative self image for the victim resulting in anxiety disorders and eating disorders. The ultimate outcome of depression if left untreated is usually suicide.

In a representative German population weight- based sample ,analysers revealed that extremely obese participants had a prevalence rate of suicidal behavior of 33 % for female respondents and 13 % for male respondents. Females had higher suicide attempts of 27% compared to male with 13%.

Obesity may arises from several factors. The most common and obvious reasons are eating food more than required and doing physical exercises less than required.

Studied have shown that obesity is related to calorie. If calorie intake (eating food) is greater than calorie output ( doing physical work ) then this can lead to weight gain.If you gain 7700 calories,it would be equal to gaining 1 kg and so and so,the more calories you take ,the more weight you put. Fortunately obesity is a reversible process and all that is needed is the will and a supportive environment.

The annual chance of obese patients achieving 5% weight loss was 1 in 12 for men and 1 in 10 for women. Nowadays there are many ways to fight obesity. Firstly , access to " You tube" and many youtubers such as "Gravities Transformation " run by fitness expert provide certain ways for losing fats and gyms ,fitness coaches, friends ,relatives who had past diet experiences and healthy communities to help in fighting obesity without forgetting surgical means liposuction.

As quoted by Jane velez- Mitchell, journalist and author with specialities in healthy lifestyle : " Obesity affects every aspect of a people's lives from health to relationship ". The real solution to obesity lies in changing our built environment.There is no other way to approach it. "No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training.It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable" ~ Socrates.

SOLIM HASAN,

13T.