Is obesity a disease or a risk factor for other conditions?
Introduction
As I begin writing about obesity on my blog, I want to start by addressing a fundamental question – Is obesity a disease? Or it is primarily a risk factor for other conditions rather than a disease in its own right? What is obesity? The issue has been historically debated. The need to address this question has been warranted by the emergence of obesity as a global epidemic and its implications for health. Chronic Diseases: the Silent Killers.
Magnitude of obesity
Before we address the question, is obesity a disease? let us consider the prevalence of obesity globally. As per WHO data, worldwide obesity has tripled since 1975. In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these 650 million were obese. In terms of percentage, these figures translate to 39% and 13% respectively, of adults aged 18 years and over. As will be discussed in subsequent posts, obesity is responsible for the growing prevalence of various lifestyle diseases. As a result, obesity has come to be regarded as “the single greatest threat to public health for this century.” More worryingly, childhood obesity has been growing at a menacing pace. As per WHO, 41 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2016. Over 340 million children and adolescents were overweight or obese in 2016. Almost half of all overweight children under 5 lived in Asia and one quarter lived in Africa.