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More than 60 percent of Americans age 20 years and older are overweight and one-quarter of American adults are also obese. While the number of overweight people has been slowly climbing since the 1980’s, the number of obese people has nearly doubled since then. Obesity is more than a cosmetic problem; it is a health hazard.

Approximately 280,000 adult deaths in the US each year are related to obesity, second only to deaths related to smoking. Several serious medical conditions have been linked to obesity, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. Obesity is also linked to higher rates of certain types of cancer. Obese men are more likely than non-obese men to die from cancer of the colon, rectum, or prostate. Obese women are more likely than non-obese women to die from cancer of the gallbladder, breast, uterus, cervix, or ovaries.

Other disease and health problems linked to obesity include: gallbladder disease and gallstones, liver disease, osteoarthritis, a disease in which the joints deteriorate (this is possibly the result of excess weight on the joints), gout, another disease affecting the joints, pulmonary (breathing) problems, including sleep apnea in which a person can stop breathing for a short time during sleep, reproductive problems in women, including menstrual irregularities and infertility. Health care providers generally agree that the more obese a person is, the more likely he or she is to develop health problems.
Emotional suffering may be one of the most painful parts of obesity. American society emphasized physical appearance and often equates attractiveness with slimness, especially for women. Such messages make overweight people feel unattractive. Many people think that obese individuals are gluttonous, lazy, or both, even though this is not true. As a result, obese people often face prejudice or discrimination in the job market, at school, and in social situations. Feelings of rejections, shame, or depression are common.

Separating the Facts from the Myths

• Defining obesity as an eating disorder is not appropriate because there is little evidence that an obese person eats more than a person of average weight.
• The American Psychiatric Association does not classify obesity as a psychiatric disorder.
• Binge Eating is defined as eating a large amount of food within a discrete period of time, while experiencing a loss of control. The amount of food consumption is obviously larger than what most people would eat with a similar time period. In order for the episode to be classified as a binge, the individual must feel a loss of control over their eating.
• 20% to 45% of obese individuals participating in behavioral weight control programs reported binge eating.
• There is strong evidence that binge eating may be caused by dietary restraint and suppression of body weight, even in those who are larger than average.
• Nobody can predict a persons eating behavior, by looking at their weight. Even people who are average or low weight can eat unhealthy diets.
• Larger than average people are stereotyped in our society. They are judged on the basis of their weight. This is unfair, and unwarranted.
• People of larger than average weight face discrimination on a regular basis.
• Often all of the individual’s problems are attributed to their weight. This is not a valid assumption. A person’s personality, interests, behaviors, and success are not weight determined.
• The term Compulsive Eating has been used to identify binge eating in the absence of vomiting or other purges. It is argued that this term is inappropriate because the eating is not compulsive at all. In fact it can be explained in most instances by a long history of excessive dieting or weight loss. In this sense, overeating is biologically adaptive rather than compulsive in nature.
• There is a great diversity in the eating patterns of larger than average individuals. Some individuals restrict their intake on a regular basis, while others binges eat regularly. It is also common for a larger than average individual to eat a healthy diet according to the Canada Food Guide.
• Binge Eating Disorder is diagnosed when binge eating occurs at least two days a week for 6 months. It is not associated with purging behaviors and occurs separately from Anorexia or Bulimia Nervosa.
• Individuals who have Binge Eating Disorder are not always larger than average, although this is more typical.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I often find myself out of breath?
• Do I often feel fatigued?
• Do I often feel like I’ve overstuffed myself after eating?
• Do I feel embarrassed to go out in public because of the way I look?
• Do I wear a size 12 or more in clothes?
• (If you answered Yes to the previous?) Do I, or anyone in my family suffer from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or other disease or illnesses?

If you answered yes to any 2 of these questions you are more than likely among the 66% of other Americans that fall into the same category: Obesity. According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity and overweight together are the second leading cause of preventable death in the US, close behind tobacco use. An estimated 300,000 deaths per year are due to the obesity epidemic.

Diabetes: How can obesity increase your chances of diabetes?

Obesity is the single most reliable predictor of type 2 diabetes. As noted above, excess weight, especially abdominal weight causes insulin resistance, in part from increased fatty acid levels released by adipose tissue. Higher levels of blood fats inhibit glucose utilization by the muscles, increase accumulation of fats in the liver, and stimulate insulin secretion, causing hyperinsulinemia, which plays a significant role in the development of type 2 diabetes.

Hypertension: How can obesity increase your chances of hypertension?

High blood pressure is one of the most common complications of obesity, especially abdominal adiposity. Obesity-related hypertension appears to be associated with the same hormonal substances (cytokines) produced by adipose tissue that result in hyperinsulinemia and the frequent development of type 2 diabetes. It ahs been suggested that hyperinsulinemeia increases sodium absorption; kidney abnormalities affecting sodium and water re-absorption are significantly correlated with obesity-related hypertension. Increased cardiac output, heart rate, and increased circulating blood volume are also associated with obesity-related hypertension. All of the mechanisms by which obesity influences blood pressure are to date not totally understood; what is clear is that obesity-related hypertension is a well-documented phenomenon that is multifactorial and complex.

Cholesterol: How can obesity increase your bad cholesterol levels?

Elevated cholesterol levels have long been recognized as having an association with obesity. Obesity tends to result in an elevation in total cholesterol and triglycerides and a reduction in high-density cholesterol (HDL). Abdominal obesity can cause an increased production of low-density cholesterol (LDL) particles that are smaller and denser than normal, putting an individual at greater risk of atherosclerosis, as well as increased very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and decreased HDL. It has been estimated that, on average, each 10 pounds of excess fat produces and additional 10 mg. of cholesterol daily, the equivalent of eating one extra egg yoke every day.

Cardiovascular Disease: What role can obesity play in cardiovascular disease?

Obesity leads to an increase in both heart attacks and strokes, independent of the effects associated with diabetes, hypertension, and elevated cholesterol. As with diabetes and hypertension, abdominal fat appears to be of special concern in the development of cardiovascular disease. Both young and middle-aged men and women have been fond to be more likely to develop heart disease than their leaner counterparts. Again using data from the Nurses’ Health Study, the risk for developing coronary heart disease (CHD) almost doubled among women with a BMI (Body Mass Index) between 25 and 29 and more than tripled among those with a BMI of greater than 29 when compared with women whose BMI was less than 21. In addition to an increase of coronary heart disease, obesity has been associated with myocardial hypertrophy, cariomyopathy, and congestive heart failure

Gallbladder Disease: How can obesity affect Gallbladder disease?

The increased productions of cholesterol in obese persons also result in the increase incidence of gallstones in both men and women. Approximately one in four obese individuals develop gallstones, often necessitating surgery. Women of all ages and men under 55 exhibited the strongest association between increasing obesity and increased incidence of gallbladder disease.

Liver Disease: How can obesity affect cirrhosis of the Liver?

Obesity is also a risk factor for liver disease. The degree of fatty change in the liver is directly related to the category of obesity and is thought to result from the accumulation of triglycerides in the liver. Is estimated that approximately 12% of all cirrhosis cases are related to obesity.

Cancer: How can obesity affect cancer related illnesses?

The World health Organization estimates that between ¼ and 1/3 of cancer cases in the world are attributable to excess weight and physical inactivity. Even moderate weight gain can put an individual at risk for certain cancers. “Gaining half a pound a year or five pounds per decade” can be dangerous, according to Dr. George Bray of Louisiana State University Medical Center. The American Cancer Society has published data showing increased mortality for colorectal and prostate cancer among obese men and for postmenopausal breast, endometrial, cervical, ovarian, and gallbladder cancer among obese women. Recent data have suggested a link between obesity and colon cancer for both sexes. In fact, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data showing odds ratios for colon cancer of 1.79 for an individual with a BMI of 22-24 and 3.72 for one with a BMI of 28-30 when compared with both men and women with BMIs of less than 22.

Obesity increases the risk of women developing hormone-related cancers. Among postmenopausal women, women who gained more the 44 pounds after the age of 18 were twice as likely as other women to get breast cancer. Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological cancer among U.S. women, and obesity has been shown to increase the risk of developing this cancer, especially in older women.

Osteoarthritis: How can obesity increase your chances?

The Arthritis Foundation estimated that approximately 16 million people in the United States has Osteoarthritis, the breakdown of cartilage in the joints, in 2000. Osteoarthritis is most commonly found in the hip, knee, and carpometacarpal joint of the hand. A study of middle-aged women published in 1996 in The Journal of Rheumatology estimated that for every 1 kg. Of weight gained, the risk of osteoarthritis of the knee and hand increased by 9%-11%. A Finnish study of 7,000 adults found that the odds ratio for osteoarthritis was 2.8 among persons with a BMI of 35 compared with those with a BMI of 25. Conversely, another study shows that decrease in BMI of 5% or more, even over a 10-year period, reduced the risk of developing osteoarthritis in the knee by more than 50%.

Asthma: How can obesity affect asthma?

A 1999 study examined the link between childhood obesity and increased asthma incidence and found that the heaviest children were 77% more likely to have asthma symptoms. Researchers have suggested that the increased weight on the lungs compromises the airways, causing asthma symptoms; in addition, excess weight could lead to inflammation in the respiratory tract.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea: What part can obesity play in sleep apnea?

It has been estimated that as many as 60% to 70% of persons suffering from obstructive sleep apnea, a condition characterized by short repetitive episodes of impaired breathing during sleep, are obese. Obesity, especially in the upper body, increases the risk for OSA by narrowing the individual’s upper airway. OSA can result in systemic hypertension, myocardial ischemia, cardiac arrhythmia, and stroke.

Psychological Disorders: How can obesity affect you psychologically?

There are numerous theories concerning the link between obesity and depression. Many causes have been proposed, including social stigma, negative self-image, dieting issues, and the poor health that often accompanies obesity, and a neurochemical connection between the two conditions.

Obesity has been associated with compulsive eating and binge eating disorders, each of which is independently linked to major depression. These disorders are forms of food addiction, a behavior typified by a loss of control over the amount of food consumed, whether on a consistent basis or in the form of binging. It has been estimated that over 30% of persons seeking medical treatment for obesity are binge eaters, as are 50% of persons seen in non-medical weight-reduction programs. Binge eaters often crave and subsequently overeat carbohydrates, avoiding good that are protein-rich; perhaps 2/3 of all obese personal are carbohydrate cravers.

Social Disorders: How can obesity play apart in the social life?

In general, the obese have poorer prospects than their leaner counterparts in many endeavors. Landlords are less likely to rent to obese individuals. In the workplace, there in increased absenteeism among obese persons. Several studies have found that heavier women earn less than normal-weight women. This association, however, held true only among obese versus non-obese white women; little difference in income was found among African-American women. In their examinations of discrimination against the obese in the workplace, Roe and Eichwort reported that a 16% of employers interviewed would not employ obese persons and 44% would only employ such persons under special circumstances.

Two studies found that, even with comparable scholastic achievements, obese students were not accepted at prestigious colleges as often as normal-weight students. A study of 1,500 white, black, and Hispanic children followed from age 10 until age 14 reported that significantly lower self-esteem was observed by age 13 among obese children of all races. These children were also found to be more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as alcohol and tobacco use. Early adolescence was determined to be a critical time for overweight and obese children, for it is during these years that they are developing their sense of self-worth.

These are just the facts derived from the West Virginia Statistic Center (HSC) and the Division of Health Promotion & The Bulimia Anorexia Nervosa Association.