What is it?
It is called obesity a disease characterized by excessive accumulation of body fat associated with health problems, namely, that harms the health of the individual.
How it develops or is acquired?
{mosimage}Various stages of development, the human body is the result of different interaction between your genetic heritage (inherited from his parents and family), the socioeconomic environment, cultural and educational environment and their individual and family. Thus, a person has several unique characteristics that distinguish them, especially in health and nutrition.
Obesity is the result of many of these interactions, in which call attention to the genetic, environmental and behavioral factors. Thus, children with both parents are obese have a high risk of obesity, and certain social changes stimulate weight gain in an entire group of people. Recently, he has been adding a series of scientific knowledge regarding the different mechanisms by which they gain weight, showing increasingly that this situation is associated, in most cases, with several factors.
Regardless of the importance of these different causes weight gain is always associated with an increase in dietary intake and a reduction in energy expenditure corresponding to such intake. The increase in intake may be due to food intake or changes in its quality, resulting in increased total caloric intake. Energy expenditure, in turn, may be associated with genetic or be dependent on a number of clinical and endocrine factors, including diseases where obesity is due to hormonal disorders.
What do you feel?
Excess body fat does not cause signs and symptoms directly, except when it reaches extreme values. Regardless of severity, the patient has significant limitations aesthetic, accentuated by the current standard of beauty that requires a weight to less than that accepted as normal.
Obese patients have limitations in movement, tend to be contaminated with fungi and other skin infections in their folds of fat, with several complications, which can sometimes be severe. Moreover, they strain your spine and lower limbs, with long-term degeneration (arthrosis) in the joints of the spine, hips, knees and ankles, and varicose vein disease deep and superficial (varicose) ulcers and recurrent erysipelas.
Obesity is a risk factor for a number of diseases or disorders that may be:
|
Diseases |
Disorders |
|
Hypertension |
Dyslipidemia |
|
Cardiovascular diseases |
Hypercholesterolemia |
|
Cerebrovascular diseases |
Decrease in HDL ( "good cholesterol") |
|
Diabetes Mellitus Type II |
Increased insulin |
|
Cancer |
Glucose intolerance |
|
Osteoartrite Osteoarthritis |
Menstrual disorders / infertility |
|
Choledocholithiasis |
Apnea |
Thus, obese patients present severe risk for a number of diseases and disorders, which causes them to have a significant reduction in life expectancy, especially among those with morbid obesity (see below).
As the doctor makes the diagnosis?
The most widely recommended to assess body weight in adults is BMI (body mass index), also recommended by the World Health Organization which is calculated by dividing the patient's weight in kilograms (kg) by your height in meters squared (the square of their height) (see item Rating Corporal, that site). The value thus establishing the diagnosis of obesity and also characterized the risks as shown below:
| BMI (kg/m2) |
Risk Level |
Type of obesity |
| 18 to 24.9 |
Healthy weight |
Absent |
| 25 to 29.9 |
Moderate |
Overweight (pre-Obesity) |
| 30 to 34.9 |
High |
Grade I Obesity |
| 35-39.9 |
Very High |
Grade II obesity |
| 40 or more |
Extremo Far |
Obesity Class III (morbid) |
As can be seen, the normal weight in adults, with more than 20 years of age varies according to its height, which enables us to also establish the upper and lower limits of body weight for different heights and the following table :
| Height (cm) |
weight (kg) |
Top Weight (kg) |
| 145 145 |
38 38 |
52 52 |
| 150 150 |
41 41 |
56 56 |
| 155 |
44 |
60 |
| 160 |
47 |
64 |
| 165 |
50 |
68 |
| 170 |
53 |
72 |
| 175 |
56 |
77 |
| 180 |
59 |
81 |
| 185 |
62 |
85 |
| 190 |
65 |
91 |
Obesity also has some features that are important to the impact of its risks, depending on the body segment in which there is a predominance of fat deposition, being classified as: Diffuse or general obesity
Truncal or android obesity (or centripetal), in which the patient has a body shape tending the apple. Is associated with increased deposition of visceral fat and is intensely related to high risk of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases (Plurimetabolic Syndrome)
Gynecoid obesity, in which fat deposition predominates at the hip, causing the patient has a body shape like a pear. It is associated with an increased risk of arthritis and varicose veins.
This classification, to define some risk, it is very important and therefore led to the creation of an index called Waist-Hip Ratio, which is obtained by dividing the waist circumference by hip circumference of the patient. In general it is accepted that there are metabolic risks when the Waist-Hip Ratio is greater than 0.9 in men and 0.8 in women. A simple measure of waist circumference is also considered an indicator of the risk of complications of obesity, defined according to the sex of the patient:
|
Increased Risk |
Highly increased risk |
| Man |
94 cm 94cm |
102 cm 102cm |
| Woman |
80 cm 80cm |
88 cm 88cm |
Body fat can also be estimated from the measurement of skin folds, especially at the elbow, or from equipment such as bioimpedance, computed tomography, ultrasound and MRI. These techniques are useful in some cases, in which you want to determine in more detail the bodily constitution.
In children and adolescents, the diagnostic criteria depend on the comparison of body weight with standard curves, which are expressed in the normal weight and height to the exact age of the patient.
According to their causes, obesity may also be classified according to the following table.
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