Obesity Risks and Facts

      Being too fat is one of the great phobias of the industrialized world, where the 20th century has imposed on most of us the aesthetic ideal of a wasp waist, a non-existent tummy and twig-like thighs. In other cultures, a fat tummy and a prominent backside are signs of prosperity and confer a certain prestige. But it would be wrong to take either of these fashions too lightly, since they apply psychological bias and social pressures that can influence health to a considerable degree.

     Being too fat, especially to the point of obesity, is positively harmful to health. Obesity is involved in hypertension, cardio-vascular diseases, arthritis, gallstones and other gastro intestinal ailments. In women, it increases the risk of cancers of the gall­bladder, the breast (after the menopause)and the womb, and In men, cancers of the prostate and the kidney.

So at what point should we start talking about excessive weight or obesity?

     If we divide our weight in kilograms by the square of our height in meters, we arrive at a value called the- “body mass index”. If this lies between 20 and 25, we can be sure that our weight is perfectly normal, and entirely compatible with good health. If it lies between 25 and 30, our weight is excessive and we are heading for obesity. As for a value of 30 and over, that indicates real obesity.

     As an example, let us take someone who is 1.6 meters tall and normally weighs 60 kilograms; 1.6 X 1.6 equals 2.56, so if we divide 60 by 2.56 we get 23.4, well within the bracket of good health. But if that person weighed 80 kilograms, we should have to divide 80 by 2,56, giving an alarming index of 31.2.

     The more serious the obesity, the greater the risk. Moreover, the fat accumulated around the abdominal area brings added risks. A simple way of measuring abdominal obesity is to measure one’s waistline and one’s girth at the hips-and divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement. A result greater than 0.85 represents a health risk. For example, somebody who measures 90 centimeters round the waist and 100 centimeters round the hips would be considered very obese.

     Obesity can be hereditary, in which case it calls for medical treatment. But in most cases, it develops slowly but surely-one could say it grows on one— whenever there  is an imbalance between absorption and expenditure of energy, in other words when we eat more energy-rich foods such as fats and sugar compared to what we can burn up through physical exercise. The message then is clear. In some societies people are often sedentary and therefore use fewer calories. Sports or physical leisure activities arid an appropriate diet are then essential in order to avoid over-weight.

     There is plenty the individual can do— limiting the consumption of red meat to once or twice a week and replacing it by fish, radically cutting down on refined sugar (especially when it is concealed in luxury foods like cakes and sweets), and eating considerably greater quantities of foods that are rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals, such as vegetables and fresh fruit Natural sugars found in cereals, for instance, are quite enough to supply the body’s needs in carbohydrates.

     Obesity is far from being a sign of Prosperity. It frequently affects low-income 9roups, especially in the poor areas of big cities where people have only limited access to high quality foodstuffs like vegetables, fruit and fish, or to education about healthy behavior, and have little time to manage their diet properly or leisure to take part in sport. Furthermore, people often prefer certain prestige foods to the modest but health- giving apple or orange, and this adds a sizeable psycho social component to the problem of obesity.

     So it is important for governments on the one hand and the food industry on the other to support our individual efforts by affording everyone access to the kinds of food that are needed for good health; the former by stepping up their efforts to inform the public and implement healthy agricultural and nutrition policies, and the latter by ensuring the widest possible distribution of healthy foods.

Please Leave Your Comments Below