The Obesity is one of the most pressing diseases of medicine and can affect the quality of life of people all over the world. It is estimated that in Portugal alone, overweight and obesity affect approximately 68% of the population.
It is a medical condition caused by multiple factors, usually associated with lifestyle – poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. However, as Carlos Oliveira explains, obesity is actually a disease that is motivated by several factors and thus complicates it.
“Obesity is a chronic, inflammatory, biological, multifactorial and relapsing disease. As a biological example, most obese people are leptin-resistant and can only burn fat in extreme cases”says ADEXO president.
Obesity is characterized by the abnormal or excessive accumulation of body fat that can reach degrees capable of affecting health, and it is the calculation of the body mass index (BMI) that can detect this problem most easily.
In addition, more than 200 diseases can be associated with obesity, placing it at the forefront of the most deadly diseases. Diabetes, cardiovascular problems, depression, joint problems, bone disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease are among the most direct and most painful consequences of being overweight, which affects adults and children at an alarming rate.
To try to understand all the subtleties and characteristics of this global epidemic, Dr. Carlos Oliveira explains in this interview what you really need to know about obesity.
Obesity affects about 71% of men and 65% of women between the ages of 25 and 75.
What is obesity?
Obesity is a chronic, inflammatory, biological, multifactorial and relapsing disease. As a biological example, most obese people are resistant to leptin and can only burn fat in extreme cases. Nobody can live their life in extreme situations.
Is there more than one type?
Yes, as I said before, there are multiple causes of obesity.
What are the main causes of the condition?
Leptin resistance, genetic mutations, infections and chemical causes.
How is obesity calculated?
Currently through a simple, but not very reliable process: calculating BMI. It can also be supplemented with abdominal girth measurement and an effective method of mass reading by bioimpedance.
What preventative measures can we take?
When the disease is installed, which can happen at any time in our life, the main result is that the person lives permanently in a state of hunger and availability to eat, because the brain does not realize the amount of energy stored in the body due to the resistance to leptin that I mentioned already. Thus, seeking help in multidisciplinary teams specializing in the treatment of obesity is essential.
What are the obesity figures in Portugal and in the world?
Overweight and obesity in Portugal affects about 68% of the population.
Is it behind other diseases?
Obesity is behind about 200 other diseases.
Does it affect both sexes equally?
No, adults affect about 71% of men and 65% of women between the ages of 25 and 75.
How is obesity treated?
Obesity is a chronic disease, so there is no cure for it. It has forms of control related to food, physical exercise, medication, and surgeries.
Do you think it is important to alert children to this disease and to promote more nutritional education?
Yes, of course, from a very young age, children must create healthy eating habits, created in childhood, that help them for the rest of their lives so that they do not get sick or have better control of it.
What are the costs of the condition to the health care system?
A recent study on the cost and burden of obesity for 2018 revealed that the costs of treating obesity did not exceed 13.3 million euros and that the health costs associated with overweight and obesity were estimated at 1.15 billion euros, or about 0.6%. of GDP and 5.8% of health spending in Portugal.
How do you think the obesity scenario will develop in the coming decades?
If nothing is done to stop the development of this epidemic, the number of obese people will be the majority of the population of industrialized countries in the next two decades.
Read also: Experts call for fighting obesity stigma
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