A Review of the Dangers of Obesity: From a Global Pollution to Multi-System Damage

Many people believe that being overweight is a symbol of prosperity and health. However, as the saying goes, "too much of a good thing is bad." Anything that wants to thrive must be kept within a moderate range; once this range is exceeded, it will turn in the opposite direction. The same applies to being overweight. Excessive weight gain leads to obesity-related diseases. Obesity not only causes serious physical harm but also inflicts heavy psychological damage. Currently, obesity is considered one of the world's four major health problems, alongside AIDS, drug addiction, and alcoholism, and is widely recognized as a significant and intractable disease plaguing human health.

This chapter details the various harms of obesity. Reading it will help both people of normal and obese weight to further improve their understanding of the dangers of obesity, thereby strengthening their awareness of prevention and improving their treatment measures.

Obesity has become a global public health hazard.

According to data released by the International Working Group on Obesity, one in four people on Earth is obese. Specifically, 312 million people worldwide are overweight, and 1.7 billion should lose weight. The report points out that the global obese population now exceeds the hungry population, and obesity has become a major social problem plaguing both developed and developing countries.

Neville Rigby, policy director of the International Working Group on Obesity, said: “Developing countries bear a particularly heavy burden of the obesity trend. We are now even seeing adolescent obesity in India. This is a widespread problem. It has completely become a global epidemic. It is practically an infectious disease.”

Statistics show that nearly one-third of all deaths worldwide are related to obesity, lack of exercise, and smoking. In some cases, people who are born obese die 5 to 8 years earlier than those of normal weight.

More than 3 million people worldwide die each year from type 2 diabetes, an obesity-related condition. This disease often leads to heart disease and kidney failure, and the current number of people suffering from it has reached 154 million, exceeding the number of people living with HIV. The World Health Organization predicts that this number could double within the next 25 years.

Obesity can exacerbate heart disease risks. World Health Organization data shows that 17 million people worldwide die from heart disease and other circulatory system diseases, accounting for one-third of all deaths. In most countries and regions, deaths from heart disease are more common among working-age adults.

A study by Columbia University’s Earth Institute found that the mortality rate from heart disease among people aged 30 to 59 in countries such as Brazil, China, India, and South Africa is twice that of the United States, while in Russia it is as high as five times.

In the United States, 20% of men are obese. Besides the high standard of living, this is also related to people's frequent reliance on cars and lack of exercise. The situation in the UK is also concerning, with nearly half of the population being overweight. Experts predict that by 2004, the proportion of obese men and women in the UK will reach 18% and 24% respectively.

The prevalence of obesity in my country has been rising rapidly in recent years. A survey on the "Nutritional and Health Status of Chinese Residents," jointly released on October 12, 2004, by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Bureau of Statistics, showed that the overweight rate among adults in my country was 22.8%, and the obesity rate was 7.1%, estimating that 200 million people were overweight and more than 60 million were obese. In large cities, the overweight rate reached 30%, and the obesity rate had reached 12.3%, meaning that nearly half of the population in major Chinese cities had weight problems. Furthermore, childhood obesity in cities is also very serious, with an obesity rate of 8.1%. Compared with the 1992 National Nutrition Survey, the adult overweight rate increased by 39%, and the obesity rate increased by 97%, and it is predicted that the obesity rate will continue to rise in the future.

**What are the dangers of obesity?**

Obesity is a condition caused by excessive fat accumulation in the body, and it is not a sign of "health." Obesity not only affects physical appearance and causes great inconvenience in daily life, but more seriously, it can easily lead to various complications and accelerate the aging and death process.

**1. Affects labor capacity and increases susceptibility to external injuries.**

Obese people often experience heat intolerance, excessive sweating, fatigue, lower limb edema, varicose veins, and dermatitis in skin folds. Severely obese individuals are slow-moving, have difficulty walking, and experience shortness of breath and palpitations with slight exertion, which can disrupt their daily lives and even lead to loss of labor capacity. Due to their slow reaction time, obese individuals are also more susceptible to various injuries, car accidents, fractures, and sprains.

**2. Prone to coronary heart disease and hypertension**

Obese individuals have increased adipose tissue, leading to increased oxygen consumption and a greater workload on the heart, resulting in myocardial hypertrophy, especially in the left ventricle. Over time, this can easily induce hypertension. Lipid deposition in the arterial walls causes narrowing and hardening of the lumen, increasing the risk of coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, stroke, and sudden death.

**3. Prone to endocrine and metabolic diseases**

Metabolic and endocrine abnormalities associated with obesity can often lead to a variety of diseases. Abnormal glucose metabolism can cause diabetes, abnormal lipid metabolism can cause hyperlipidemia, and abnormal nucleic acid metabolism can cause hyperuricemia. Obese women may experience menstrual irregularities due to ovarian dysfunction.

**4. Affects lung function**

The function of the lungs is to supply oxygen to the whole body and expel carbon dioxide. Obese people need more oxygen due to their increased weight, but their lungs cannot increase their function accordingly. At the same time, the accumulation of abdominal fat in obese people restricts the respiratory movement of the lungs, which can cause hypoxia and difficulty breathing, ultimately leading to cardiopulmonary failure.

**5. May cause liver and gallbladder diseases.**

Because hyperinsulinemia in obese individuals leads to increased endogenous triglyceride synthesis, the synthesized triglycerides accumulate in the liver, resulting in fatty liver disease. Compared to normal-weight individuals, obese individuals have higher cholesterol levels in their bile acids, exceeding their solubility in bile. Therefore, obese individuals are prone to developing a high proportion of cholesterol gallstones; reports indicate that 50% to 80% of women with gallstones are obese. Approximately 30% of highly obese patients also have gallstones during surgery. Gallstone disease is most common in obese women over 40 years of age; the incidence of gallstones in obese women is about six times higher than in women of normal weight.

**6. Increases the difficulty of surgery and increases the risk of postoperative infection.**

Obese individuals are at higher risk during anesthesia, are more prone to wound dehiscence after surgery, and have a greater chance of developing complications such as hypostatic pneumonia compared to non-obese individuals.

**7. May cause joint damage.**

Increased weight can cause wear and tear or tearing of many joints, such as the spine, shoulders, elbows, hips, and feet, leading to pain.

**8. Concurrent Hernia**

Obese individuals can develop many types of hernias, among which hiatal hernia, where the upper part of the stomach is displaced into the thoracic cavity, is the most common.