What are the causes and consequences of obesity on health?
At Phytocea, we understand the importance of combating obesity and its associated health risks. That's why we want to provide detailed and comprehensive content to help you understand this important topic. In this article, we'll explain, in simple terms, the causes of obesity, its health consequences, diagnostic methods, and treatment options.
What is obesity?
Obesity is characterized by excess body fat and altered adipose tissue, leading to adverse health consequences and potentially reducing life expectancy. The factors involved in the development and progression of this chronic disease are complex, resulting from the interaction of several dietary, genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors.
Gaining a thorough understanding of the causes and biological mechanisms leading to obesity represents one of the major challenges of current research.
Obesity is constantly increasing in the population; we are now talking about an obesity epidemic.
Why are we talking about an obesity epidemic?
Obesity is a modern problem, one of the causes of which is the abundance of food in some countries combined with poor dietary habits. Obesity is described as an epidemic because its prevalence is particularly high in the population and it affects a growing segment of the population.
This epidemic is global and particularly affects industrialized countries. In France, despite public health measures, the proportion of people suffering from obesity or overweight increased from 38% to 47% of the population between 1997 and 2020. This is certainly striking, but if we focus on obesity as such and on morbid obesity, the most harmful to health, the proportions rose from 8.5% and 0.3% respectively in 1997 to 17% and 2% in 2020. This is a significant increase that raises numerous public health issues, which will be addressed in due course.
Why do people become obese?
Obesity is a complex, multifactorial condition. The quickest explanation is that obesity occurs due to excessive energy intake relative to energy expenditure. This is what's called an energy imbalance. But in reality, things are a bit more complicated...
What are the multiple causes of obesity?
The imbalance in the energy balance
As stated above, the primary cause of obesity is an imbalance in energy intake: we consume more energy than we expend. This excess energy is stored as fat in adipose tissue. However, excess calories are not the only culprit; diet quality also plays a role. For example, overconsumption of high-glycemic-index carbohydrates leads to increased storage of these carbohydrates in adipose tissue.
Eating habits
This point ties in with the previous one: in our modern world, there is an abundance of food (obesity is considered a disease of overindulgence), and we have access to numerous food sources without requiring much energy. Goodbye to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle; for us, accessing large quantities of food is easy.
Unfortunately, the nutritional quality is not always good, and excessive consumption of highly processed foods, foods with low nutritional quality and high energy density tends to alter our perceptions, our microbiomes, and contributes, among other things, to the development of obesity, particularly through changes in our eating behavior (overconsumption of very energy-dense foods with low nutritional value).
The influence of genetics
We are not all equally susceptible to obesity. Genetic predispositions can significantly alter our relationship with food, for example, by changing our eating habits or by promoting energy-saving mechanisms to store excess energy. This is because the primary purpose of adipose tissue is to store energy for periods of scarcity; unfortunately, this survival mechanism is no longer truly effective in our modern world.
Food contaminants
Some food contaminants, such as bisphenol A, exert obesogenic effects.
The gut microbiota
It is becoming increasingly clear that there are close links between the gut microbiota and the development of obesity. These are complex, two-way relationships, but the alterations in the gut microbiota found in obesity appear to contribute to the development of related pathologies.
The role of epigenetics
Without going into complicated details, epigenetics refers to a layer that controls the activation (or inactivation) of our genes under the influence of the environment in a broad sense. These modifications can persist long after they have been established and induce metabolic alterations leading to obesity.
How can you tell if you are obese?
In this article, we will only discuss the simplest index that you can easily verify yourself: the body mass index, or BMI. This index allows you to estimate a person's body size based on their height and body mass.
It is calculated by dividing the mass by the height in meters squared. More clearly: [Mass in kg] / [Height in m x Height in m]
An individual whose BMI is between 18.5 and 25 is considered to be of normal build.
However, if the BMI falls outside these values, there is a body size problem:
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BMI < 18.5: Underweight
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25 < BMI < 30: Overweight
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30 < BMI < 35: Moderate obesity
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35 < BMI < 40: Severe obesity
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BMI>40: Massive obesity
Although BMI is an imperfect index (it does not take body composition into account) it is a good indicator of body size.
In the event of an abnormal BMI, it is strongly recommended to seek guidance from a doctor and/or a registered dietitian who will be able to advise you.
What are the consequences of obesity?
Obesity is a major public health issue because it significantly increases the risk of developing certain diseases. These include, in particular:
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of cancers
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of heart disease
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dyslipidemia (excess triglycerides and cholesterol)
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atherosclerosis
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of joint pathologies
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of liver diseases
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type II diabetes
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respiratory illnesses (including sleep apnea)
In short, obesity is detrimental to health by greatly increasing the risk of developing a more serious pathology, which is why it is preferable to aim for a BMI within normal values.
How to manage and treat obesity?
Medical management of obesity
Because obesity is multifactorial, its management is also multifactorial. Several solutions can be offered, some relatively simple, others involving significantly more complex procedures. Examples include:
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the practice of appropriate physical activity
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nutritional monitoring and advice
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psychological support
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the use of certain medications
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recourse to obesity surgery (bariatric surgery)
The topic of nutritional monitoring will be developed more specifically in a future article.
Addressing obesity also means addressing associated pathologies and disorders such as hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, digestive disorders and discomforts, stress...
Obesity prevention
We wish to emphasize the importance of obesity prevention. Indeed, the best way to treat obesity is to prevent it from a young age. Dietary habits and physical activity acquired during childhood are often maintained into adulthood, hence the importance of instilling them from an early age.
Promoting a healthy lifestyle should be a priority for governments, healthcare institutions, and educators. It is important to encourage physical activity and provide healthy, nutritious food options to help prevent obesity.
It is also important to involve parents and families in obesity prevention. Parents can play a key role by shaping eating habits and encouraging regular physical activity. Schools can also contribute to promoting a healthy lifestyle by providing nutritious meals and encouraging physical activity during school hours.
I suffer from obesity, can Phytocea help me?
At Phytocea, we offer a range of dietary supplements that can help you manage obesity-related disorders. To address digestive issues and maintain a healthy gut flora, we have developed Flore Daily , a probiotic supplement that helps maintain the quality of the gut microbiota.
To help combat the effects of stress and anxiety, we have formulated ReLax , a food supplement that combines quality magnesium and plants with anti-stress and calming properties.
Finally, to counter the effects of dyslipidemia caused by obesity, which increases cardiovascular risk, we have selected very high-quality omega-3s in our Omega+ supplement. The dosage of this supplement can be adjusted according to your diet and the desired effect; do not hesitate to contact us about this.
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