What is Obesity|Obesity Facts.
Obesity Definition. Obesity is defined as excessive fat deposition in the body to the extent of being a risk to health. In other words, obese people are at health risk because obesity can lead to adverse health conditions and reduced life expectancy. A person is defined as being obese when his or her weight is 20% above what his or her normal weight should be. And BMI calculation tells you what your normal weight should be.
A particular weight may be considered as overweight or obese in a particular person and the same weight need not be considered obese in another. The criteria is the height of the person. A taller person may be healthy and normal with a particular weight, while a short person will be considered overweight or obese with the same weight.
The height – weight correlation becomes important and this correlation is defined by the Body mass Index or BMI.
About Obesity and Being Overweight.
A person may be just overweight – that is his or her weight may be more than normal, but that person is considered obese when the weight is much more than just being overweight to the extent of prone to increased health risks. BMI, a method of measuring weight of a person in relation to height helps to determine whether a person is overweight or obese.
What is BMI or Body Mass Index.
Being overweight or obese is determined by the Body Mass Index or BMI. BMI is a measurement which compares the weight and height of a person to determine if that person is overweight or obese. A BMI between 25 and 30 kg/m2 means that the person is pre obese or overweight while a BMI more than 30 kg/m2 is considered as obese.
It is important to know here that BMI does not measure body fat. It only co relates to the amount of fat in the body. As a result, athletes who have muscle bulk may have a BMI that classifies them as overweight even though they do not have excess of body fat. Such a person will be overweight as obesity is necessarily associated with excess of adipose (fat) tissue. Obese people are literally fat with excess deposit of fats in the body. Obesity is easily recognized but very difficult to treat.
Morbid Obesity.
Morbid obesity means that
- The person has exceeded his or her normal weight by 50% to 100%, or
- That person is more than 100 pounds above the normal weight.
- His or her BMI is 40 kg/m2 or more.
- A morbidly obese person is sufficiently overweight to be a very high risk exposure to health disorders.
Malignant Obesity. There is also something called as malignant obesity or super obesity where the BMI is 50 or more.
Super-super obesity is at the extreme end of the scale where the BMI is 60 or more.
It is relevant to know about obesity that it is considered as a complex and chronic disease and results in various chronic health disorders most of which can be serious. It is the second most leading cause of preventable deaths.( Smoking tobacco heads the list). Even losing weight by 5% to 10% can delay or prevent the diseases which are caused by obesity.
Photo showing morbid obesity.
Health Risks Assessment of Obesity and Being Overweight.
Besides BMI, two other factors are considered while assessing the health risk of an overweight or obese person.
- The abdominal girth of the person, because it is the visceral fat or the abdominal fat and not the subcutaneous fat which is a precursor to health problems.
- Risk factors of the person to health disorders such as diabetes, hypertension and a sedentary life style.
Picture of obesity and abdominal fat.
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