The incidence of obesity in the U.S. is an amazing 42% and rising, up 12% since the year 2000.
Obviously, the fact that obesity is a major health risk is no surprise, especially since obesity was designated as a key risk factor for heart disease by the American Heart Association decades ago. While it’s important to recognize the impact of obesity on heart disease, there is an unfortunate unintended consequence of focusing on this designation. Let me explain.
It’s unfortunate because heart disease can advance progressively over many years to a critical stage without symptoms of any kind, creating a false sense that, despite being obese, all is well and your health is intact.
Wrong!
This false message is a product of our medical model which emphasizes symptoms. The “no symptoms, no problem” approach worked very well way back when infectious diseases were the primary cause of death, but with heart disease and other chronic diseases that plague us today, waiting for symptoms is an invitation for disaster.
Case in point, coronary heart disease results from clogging the coronary arteries that feed the heart muscle, gradually reducing the opening through which oxygen-carrying blood flows. Finally, after many years, when the process is very advanced and the opening is too small, you may get lucky and have a symptom (typically it’s pain in the chest — angina pectoris), telling you to get to a doctor immediately. Or perhaps you are unlucky, and a heart attack strikes without warning and no symptoms.
Although the attack seems to come from nowhere, the disease operates like termites, damaging heart blood vessels progressively over decades, reducing blood flow with no hint of a problem.
So here's what you can do to combat obesity and its accompanying problems.
Why losing weight can help prevent certain cancers
Obesity is linked to many chronic diseases and is a major health problem that should not be ignored. The risk of several different kinds of cancer is greatly increased in the obese, including cancers of the breast, colon, gallbladder, liver, kidney, and pancreas.
How is obesity related to cancer? A key factor is inflammation. In general, inflammation is meant to be a short-term protective device for the body, mobilizing resources to fight infection and promote healing. This is a good thing. However, when inflammation becomes chronic it’s like a fire that burns out of control. Recent research suggests that reducing chronic inflammation by losing body fat may be as important in preventing cancer as a healthy diet and regular exercise.
How losing weight can help prevent Type 2 diabetes
Obesity contributes to elevated levels of insulin in the blood, a factor in cancer, pre-diabetes, and Type 2 diabetes. It is estimated that a whopping 35% of adult Americans have pre-diabetes, and the vast majority are unaware. The problem is obesity causes cells in the body to resist the effects of insulin. This means, when you eat carbohydrates, they digest all the way down to glucose, a simple sugar that is dumped into the bloodstream. In response, insulin is released from the pancreas gland for the purpose of “escorting” glucose into cells where it can be used to provide energy. Without insulin, glucose cannot enter.
In pre-diabetes, insulin is released and available to do its job, but the cells of the body are resistant, causing insulin to fail. More insulin is released to try to overcome the resistance, but it continues to fail. This results in a dangerous accumulation of glucose and insulin in the blood. When the concentration of blood glucose increases to a certain level, the diagnosis of pre-diabetes is appropriate.
However, when the concentration of blood glucose progresses further, as is too often the case, and reaches a higher threshold, the diagnosis becomes Type-2 diabetes. In other words, Type-2 diabetes is extreme insulin resistance. And almost always, the cause of insulin resistance is too much body fat, especially deep body fat that lies underneath the layer of muscle.
How is obesity linked to COVID-19
I have been very outspoken about the missed opportunity associated with the COVID pandemic. Who is at high risk from this virus? Those who are immune-compromised, such as the elderly and cancer chemo patients, and the obese. We are limited in what we can do for those who are immune-compromised, but there’s much that can be done to improve the health of the obese.
With all the attention on the COVID-19 virus, what a fantastic, missed opportunity to parlay that into a focused campaign to educate the public about the risks associated with obesity. Not only COVID-19 but also the association with heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes, as described above.
So, how is obesity related to COVID? The latest research suggests that COVID infects stored body fat, and also infects immune cells that reside in body fat. The result is the potential for a strong inflammatory response that is very dangerous to health. What’s more, the COVID virus that hides in body fat is especially problematic when that body fat surrounds organs, such as the heart and the intestines, possibly leading to organ damage that has been observed in some COVID patients.
The main problem is that body fat becomes a comfortable home for the COVID virus, and the more fat you have, the more the COVID virus replicates, causing more inflammation. In addition, when COVID makes a home in body fat, it may contribute to what is known as “long COVID,” with symptoms lasting weeks or months, even though the patient has recovered from the COVID infection.
The answer? America needs to lose weight
We are a fat society and it’s killing us prematurely. To make matters worse, COVID-19 adds another layer of risk on top of heart disease, cancer, and Type 2 diabetes. If we were able to effectively combat obesity, we would save countless lives, and improve the quality of life for millions more. But to move in this direction, the public must be educated about: (1) the many health risks associated with obesity, and (2) the fact that obesity destroys health without creating any symptoms along the way. This would help reduce the sense of smugness among the obese that all is well, when, in fact, disaster may be creeping ever closer, day by day.
Obviously, the fact that obesity is a major health risk is no surprise, especially since obesity was designated as a key risk factor for heart disease by the American Heart Association decades ago. While it’s important to recognize the impact of obesity on heart disease, there is an unfortunate unintended consequence of focusing on this designation. Let me explain.
It’s unfortunate because heart disease can advance progressively over many years to a critical stage without symptoms of any kind, creating a false sense that, despite being obese, all is well and your health is intact.
Wrong!
This false message is a product of our medical model which emphasizes symptoms. The “no symptoms, no problem” approach worked very well way back when infectious diseases were the primary cause of death, but with heart disease and other chronic diseases that plague us today, waiting for symptoms is an invitation for disaster.
Case in point, coronary heart disease results from clogging the coronary arteries that feed the heart muscle, gradually reducing the opening through which oxygen-carrying blood flows. Finally, after many years, when the process is very advanced and the opening is too small, you may get lucky and have a symptom (typically it’s pain in the chest — angina pectoris), telling you to get to a doctor immediately. Or perhaps you are unlucky, and a heart attack strikes without warning and no symptoms.
Although the attack seems to come from nowhere, the disease operates like termites, damaging heart blood vessels progressively over decades, reducing blood flow with no hint of a problem.
So here's what you can do to combat obesity and its accompanying problems.
Why losing weight can help prevent certain cancers
Obesity is linked to many chronic diseases and is a major health problem that should not be ignored. The risk of several different kinds of cancer is greatly increased in the obese, including cancers of the breast, colon, gallbladder, liver, kidney, and pancreas.
How is obesity related to cancer? A key factor is inflammation. In general, inflammation is meant to be a short-term protective device for the body, mobilizing resources to fight infection and promote healing. This is a good thing. However, when inflammation becomes chronic it’s like a fire that burns out of control. Recent research suggests that reducing chronic inflammation by losing body fat may be as important in preventing cancer as a healthy diet and regular exercise.
How losing weight can help prevent Type 2 diabetes
Obesity contributes to elevated levels of insulin in the blood, a factor in cancer, pre-diabetes, and Type 2 diabetes. It is estimated that a whopping 35% of adult Americans have pre-diabetes, and the vast majority are unaware. The problem is obesity causes cells in the body to resist the effects of insulin. This means, when you eat carbohydrates, they digest all the way down to glucose, a simple sugar that is dumped into the bloodstream. In response, insulin is released from the pancreas gland for the purpose of “escorting” glucose into cells where it can be used to provide energy. Without insulin, glucose cannot enter.
In pre-diabetes, insulin is released and available to do its job, but the cells of the body are resistant, causing insulin to fail. More insulin is released to try to overcome the resistance, but it continues to fail. This results in a dangerous accumulation of glucose and insulin in the blood. When the concentration of blood glucose increases to a certain level, the diagnosis of pre-diabetes is appropriate.
However, when the concentration of blood glucose progresses further, as is too often the case, and reaches a higher threshold, the diagnosis becomes Type-2 diabetes. In other words, Type-2 diabetes is extreme insulin resistance. And almost always, the cause of insulin resistance is too much body fat, especially deep body fat that lies underneath the layer of muscle.
How is obesity linked to COVID-19
I have been very outspoken about the missed opportunity associated with the COVID pandemic. Who is at high risk from this virus? Those who are immune-compromised, such as the elderly and cancer chemo patients, and the obese. We are limited in what we can do for those who are immune-compromised, but there’s much that can be done to improve the health of the obese.
With all the attention on the COVID-19 virus, what a fantastic, missed opportunity to parlay that into a focused campaign to educate the public about the risks associated with obesity. Not only COVID-19 but also the association with heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes, as described above.
So, how is obesity related to COVID? The latest research suggests that COVID infects stored body fat, and also infects immune cells that reside in body fat. The result is the potential for a strong inflammatory response that is very dangerous to health. What’s more, the COVID virus that hides in body fat is especially problematic when that body fat surrounds organs, such as the heart and the intestines, possibly leading to organ damage that has been observed in some COVID patients.
The main problem is that body fat becomes a comfortable home for the COVID virus, and the more fat you have, the more the COVID virus replicates, causing more inflammation. In addition, when COVID makes a home in body fat, it may contribute to what is known as “long COVID,” with symptoms lasting weeks or months, even though the patient has recovered from the COVID infection.
The answer? America needs to lose weight
We are a fat society and it’s killing us prematurely. To make matters worse, COVID-19 adds another layer of risk on top of heart disease, cancer, and Type 2 diabetes. If we were able to effectively combat obesity, we would save countless lives, and improve the quality of life for millions more. But to move in this direction, the public must be educated about: (1) the many health risks associated with obesity, and (2) the fact that obesity destroys health without creating any symptoms along the way. This would help reduce the sense of smugness among the obese that all is well, when, in fact, disaster may be creeping ever closer, day by day.
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