Every year, March 4th is observed as World Obesity Day around the world. A grave health issue, obesity affects millions of people every year. Over the last few years, this health problem has been on the rise across the globe, with a drastic increase in overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. One of the major risk factors for elevating symptoms of Covid-19, high adiposity rates during the pandemic has drawn more attention to its prevalence and causes. Unfortunately, stigmas attached to obesity have made humans lackadaisical towards health care and even reluctant to get vaccinated for coronavirus.
This year's theme 'Changing Perspectives: Let's Talk About Obesity' is primarily inclined to focus on efforts to address the stigma and misconceptions about obesity and its role in an individual's health.
By and large, obesity is a complex phenomenon and there are no set rules that can cause a person to become obese. An individual does not gain weight solely by consuming calories in and out. Genetics, sleep deprivation, stress, environment, eating patterns, physical activity levels, and the use of certain medications also play a crucial role in imbalanced adiposity levels. However, obese adults are at increased risk for various health conditions, including high blood pressure, sleep apnea, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, coronary heart disease, osteoarthritis, and respiratory issues besides breast, prostate, and certain colon cancers. Moreover, obese individuals may also experience social discrimination, and psychological issues.
In an otherwise healthy person, weight stability is guarded by physiological mechanism. The body will try its best to defend against weight reduction and abnormal weight gain. Likewise, when it comes to burning calories, metabolism has a key role to play. Calorie absorption is determined not only by a portion but also by factors such as gut hormones, digestive enzymes, and nerve signals.
Also Read: Obesity: Causes, Symptoms And Treatment
To overcome misconceptions and stigmas about obesity, it is essential to understand the potential reasons for weight gain. Here are 5 popular myths floating around this health problem.
Myth 1: Obesity is a lifestyle choice and not an illness.
Fact: Not true! Contrary to this statement, obesity can be a lifestyle disorder or a disease because of organ dysfunction, genetic issues, inflammation, infections, nutritional deficiencies or, unfavorable environmental factors leading to such abnormalities in the bodily system.
Myth 2: An increase in body weight is always due to an increase in body fat.
Fact: Not totally true. While BMI is a reasonable measure for weight gain, it cannot gauge an accurate body composition. People with increased muscle mass may have a high BMI but may not necessarily have an increased body fat percentage. A patient with reduced muscle mass may have a BMI in the normal range, but increased percent body fat, also referred to as sarcopenic obesity.
Myth 3: Crash diets will reduce obesity.
Fact: They don’t! While there could be a sudden increase in the rate at which the weight can go down, it may or may not remain so in the long run. Setting realistic goals for weight loss is more important than crash or fad diets that may just reduce water weight. Appropriate nutrition accompanied by routine physical activity and constant monitoring is the key to staying fit.
Myth 4 Eating too much causes obesity
Fact: Not really! While it has become a universally accepted misconception, caloric intake is not the sole reason for sudden weight gain. The energy stored as body fat is a net balance between energy absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and the amount of energy expended, thus the effect of these obesity-causing macronutrients relies on the quantity, quality, and density of calories and not only on the quantity of food eaten.
Myth 5: Obesity is always due to genetic abnormalities.
Fact: Partially true. Many individuals believe obesity is primarily due to their faulty genes. While it may be one of the causes, metabolic rate, caloric density, ageing, energy expenditure, muscle mass, energy efficiencies and societal factors can potentially contribute to obesity.
