Diseases caused by obesity
1. Diabetes
The most common cause of obesity is abnormal glucose metabolism. Due to weight gain and increased fat content, the pancreatic function decreases accordingly, and the insulin’s ability to lower blood sugar decreases.
Therefore, the body will secrete more insulin to compensate for this decrease in ability. This state is clinically called insulin resistance.
When the body’s compensatory function is not enough to make up for the decline in insulin function, it will cause abnormal blood sugar. In the early stage, it will be impaired glucose tolerance, which will further develop into type 2 diabetes.
The longer the obesity lasts, the greater the chance of diabetes. At the same time, 80% of patients with type 2 diabetes are overweight or have a history of overweight.
2. Hypertension
According to statistics, the probability of obese people suffering from hypertension is 2 to 5 times that of ordinary people. Hypertension is closely related to obesity, and more than 70% of hypertensive patients are overweight or obese.
But if the weight is reduced, the blood flow, cardiac output and sympathetic nerve function of the whole body will decrease, and blood pressure will also decrease accordingly.
3. Hyperlipidemia
Obese people, especially those with abdominal obesity, are more likely to show hypercholesterolemia, abnormally elevated low-density lipoprotein and very low-density lipoprotein than the average person.
The decrease in high-density lipoprotein is related to the high body fat, high fat intake, and blood lipid clearance problems.
4. Cardiovascular disease
The heart is like a water pump, constantly contracting and relaxing to maintain the circulation of blood. Fat people store too much fat in their blood, which increases the total amount of blood. The heart must increase its contraction force to complete the effective circulation of blood.
If the heart is overloaded for a long time, it will cause progressive heart function damage. When the heart is overwhelmed and can no longer effectively pump blood, blood will accumulate in the cardiovascular system, leading to heart failure.
The chance of angina pectoris and sudden death in fat people is 4 times higher than that of the average person. Moreover, because the blood fat concentration is too high, it is easy to accelerate vascular atherosclerosis and cause major diseases such as coronary heart disease and ischemic heart disease.
5. Cerebrovascular disease
Fat people are prone to diabetes, high blood lipids, high uric acid and high blood pressure, and obese people with these diseases are more likely to have problems with their cerebrovascular vessels, such as cerebral atherosclerosis.
The cerebral blood vessels of obese people become hard and brittle, and may rupture due to high blood pressure in the body, causing extremely dangerous cerebral hemorrhage.
The tissue plasminogen activator inhibitor factor in the blood of fat people is also higher than that of ordinary people. This factor makes it difficult to dissolve blood clots once they are formed, so fat people are also prone to cerebral thrombosis, also known as cerebral infarction.
6. Fatty liver
Half of fat people suffer from fatty liver. The liver is the place where triglycerides are synthesized, but there is not much space inside the liver to store them.
Because the balance between triglyceride synthesis and transport in fat people is imbalanced, and the fatty acids in the diet are too much, the liver synthesizes more triglycerides, resulting in a large amount of triglycerides accumulating in the liver, resulting in fatty liver.
Severe obesity combined with severe fatty liver leads to liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and ultimately liver failure.
7. Gallstones
Because of excess body fat, fat people have higher cholesterol levels in their blood, which makes the cholesterol in bile supersaturated, thus forming gallstones.
8. Sleep apnea syndrome
Obese people have thick chest wall and abdominal fat, narrow airways, and increased visceral fat, which also affects the expansion of the lungs, resulting in decreased lung capacity and reduced vital capacity, thus affecting the normal ventilation function of the lungs.
Long-term hypoxia and carbon dioxide retention can easily lead to sudden death during sleep.
9. Osteoarthritis
Because of their excessive weight, fat people have to bear a relatively large weight on their bones and joints, especially the excessive burden on the spine and lower limbs, which can easily lead to bone and joint damage, deformation and aging.
Therefore, obese people are prone to osteoarthritis, mainly in the knee and hip joints.
10. Reproductive system
Obese women are prone to endocrine disorders, polycystic ovary syndrome, oligomenorrhea, amenorrhea, and masculinization, leading to infertility. After losing weight, quite a few patients can resume normal menstruation.
Obese men often have reduced androgen levels, decreased male sexual function, male breast development and breast hyperplasia, etc.
11. Cancer
According to epidemiological survey results, obese men are prone to prostate cancer. Obese women are prone to endometrial cancer, cervical cancer and breast cancer.
The incidence of endometrial cancer in women with a weight gain of more than 40% is five times higher than that of normal people.
Regardless of gender, obese people are prone to colon cancer and rectal cancer, and the higher the degree of obesity, the higher the chance of suffering from the above cancers.
12. Skin lesions
Fat people are prone to acanthosis nigricans on the neck and armpits. Skin folds such as the head, armpits, pubic area and thighs are prone to skin diseases such as eczema and dermatitis.
There are also many obesity lines similar to stretch marks on the waist and thighs, which are caused by the breakage of the dermis when it grows rapidly.
In addition, because the heart of fat people is enlarged, the venous blood return is slowed down and blocked, and varicose veins are prone to occur.
13. Psychological disorders
Obese people, especially those with high obesity, are prone to mental abnormalities. In mild cases, symptoms include low self-esteem; in severe cases, symptoms may include sensory and motor disorders, difficulty standing or walking, and even suicidal tendencies.