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Weight! It spells danger
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Obese people need a supportive environment to help them shed the extra kilos
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BATTLE OF THE BULGE You can conquer it with diet and exercise
More than two per cent of the Indian population is obese. That may not sound like much, but it translates to a whopping 2.2 crore Indians who’re fighting a serious weight problem. In the metros that number rises — five per cent of adults
and a staggering 15 per cent of urban kids are obese.
This is only going to get progressively worse, says Dr. Ravindran Kumeran, laparoscopic surgeon and obesity specialist at Admert Medical Centre, given our sedentary lifestyles and predisposing genetic factors.
“In the U.S., obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death — 300,000 people die as a result of obesity every year,” he says. “This will become true in India as well if we don’t address the issue.”
Creating awareness about obesity is the main reason why he opened the Obesity Management Centre at Admert recently. “Many people don’t even understand what exactly obesity is and how dangerous it can be,” he says.
In medical terms, obesity is determined by your height-weight ratio or the Body Mass Index (BMI), which you get by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in metres. If your BMI is above 25, you’re overweight (25 per cent of Indians currently fall into this category). If your BMI is above 30, you’re obese. And if it’s above 40, you’re in the dangerous territory of being morbidly obese.
“Morbid obesity is a disease on its own,” says Dr. Kumeran. Because every bit of your body is working harder to compensate for the excess weight, you’re at high risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, arthritis, sleep apnoea, stroke or heart attack and even some forms of cancer. In fact, death rates go up by 200 per cent in those who are more than 25 kg above their ideal weight.
So what can we do? A controlled, healthy diet and exercise is always the first line of action. But if you’re significantly overweight and diet and exercise alone aren’t doing the job, medications can be prescribed for limited periods. These include stimulants/appetite suppressants, medication that reduces fat absorption or antidepressants (when depression is linked to binge-eating).
And then there’s bariatric surgery, which Dr. Kumeran has been performing for the last two years. “This is not cosmetic surgery,” he warns. “You won’t come out of the operation theatre any thinner.” What it does is reduce the capacity of your stomach so that you lose weight slowly over a period of a year or two. This is recommended only for the morbidly obese, and involves a large portion of the stomach being either cordoned off (with an elastic band), removed or bypassed (known as a Gastric Bypass).
Losing weight is hard, and people fighting a battle against weight need a supportive environment. That’s what the Obesity Management Clinic at Admert provides, says Dr. Kumeran, with a committed multi-disciplinary team consisting of a dietician, diabetologist, psychologist, anaesthesiologist and surgeon.
And now, they’ve also opened an obesity helpline (9841041141) where people can call in and give their height, weight, age and gender. Callers will be eligible for a free consultation with the team, and one suitable person will selected for free bariatric surgery on November 26 (World Obesity Day).
DIVYA KUMAR
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