The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : A grim message to heavyweights

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 30, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

A grim message to heavyweights

Special Correspondent

Life expectancy reduces with obesity: expert

VISAKHAPATNAM: Obesity is a weighty problem. It invites disability, diseases and premature death, consultant dietician and founder-president of the Diabetes Foundation, Anuradha Reddy, has said.

Addressing Mahila Kalyana Morcha at the NSTL Manasi Auditorium on Monday, she observed that excess fat was as much a physical hindrance as carrying a load of the same weight day and night. It gave rise to breathlessness on moderate exertion such as climbing stairs. Obesity predisposed to diseases like angina, coronary thrombosis, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, gall bladder disease, osteo-arthritis of weight bearing joints, gout, cancer of the liver and esophagus, hernia, intestinal blockage, kidney disease and toxemia pf pregnancy, high blood fat, elevated low density lipoprotein (LDL) and sudden death from heart disease. Surgical operations and pregnancy carried an increased risk in the obese, she stated.

"Life expectancy diminishes with excess weight. An extra inch at the waistline is a year less of lifeline. The mortality of men who are 10% overweight is about one fifth higher than average and in those who are more than 20 per cent overweight is about one third. It has been noted that the death rate increases 2 per cent for each pound over the healthy weight. For persons who are 40 pounds overweight, the death rate is estimated to be 80 per cent higher during the next 25 years of their life. Lean men survive longer than overweight men," she noted.

Health risks

The location of fat accumulation makes a difference in health risks. Male patterned obesity, with fat deposited primarily in the abdomen and trunk, is called android obesity (the "spare tire" or "apple" profile).

Android obesity in men or women is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, elevated blood sugar and gallstones. The greater the proportion of abdominal fat, the greater the risk. Abdominal fat may be more readily converted to cholesterol than fat deposited elsewhere. Pear shaped people, with fat accumulation around the hips, do not experience as much diabetes or high blood pressure or as many heart attacks as those whose fat is around the middle, Ms. Reddy said.

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