Why is obesity an issue?
According to WHO the issue has grown to epidemic proportions with over 4 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese in 2017 according to the global burden of disease.
It was once considered a problem only in high income countries overweight and obesity and automatically on the rise in low and middle income countries particularly in urban settings. The vast majority of overweight or obese children live in developing countries where the rate of increase has been more than 30% higher than that of developed countries.
We know that obesity is associated with various conditions (co-morbidities) and complications (e.g. stroke, heart failure, heart attack, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease and diabetes etc).
There are many other factors that can influence body weight including genetic predisposition. This is a list of factors that can increase body weight and they include:
• The built environment
• Medical disorders
• Gut microbiota
• Viruses
• Certain medications
• Sleep deprivation
• Stress
• The menopause, and
• Environmental toxins