Endocrinology and nutrition

Unidad de Endocrine Neck Surgery

Consultants:

What is Obesity?

Obesity is a nutritional disease that appears due to alterations in the coordination of three basic mechanisms: caloric intake, energy expenditure and the balance between energy release and fat deposit. This mismatch causes an increase in adipose tissue, and with it an increase in body weight. The degree to which a person is classed as overweight or obese depends on their body mass index, which is the result of dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters. When an individual’s BMI is above 30, we are facing a case of obesity.

Being overweight and being obese is not just an aesthetic problem; as a person’s body mass index increases, so does the risk of cardiovascular disease and the risk of developing cancer.

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers obesity to be the epidemic of the 21st century. Worldwide there are three hundred million people who are obese and one billion people who are overweight.

According to the data, 70% of the adult population in Malaga is overweight. In addition, we are seeing more and more children who are overweight, and if their habits are not changed they will become obese in the future.

Risks

In the United States, currently 3 in 10 adults are obese. Europe is following the same path: more than 10 million adults will be overweight, which will be the direct cause of:

▪ 80% of the cases of type 2 adult-onset diabetes
▪ 55% of the cases of hypertension
▪ 35% of the cases of coronary artery disease

To measure an individual’s degree of obesity, experts use a formula that is based on the patient’s weight and height, known as the body mass index: BMI.

The World Health Organization defines overweight as a BMI equal to or greater than 25 and obesity as a BMI equal to or greater than 30. A large percentage of the patients that are classified as overweight will become obese over their lifetime.