Overweight Problems
Cholesterol Levels
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admin 24 October, 2008
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High cholesterol leads to hardening of arteries, which in turn, leads to heart disease or attack. Keep your intake of food healthy, limit the amount of sugar you eat, and have your cholesterol checked. If it is higher than 200, ask your doctor for ways to reduce it.
Categories : Heart, Blood, and Circulation, Overweight Problems, Tips and Advices
A Closer Look at Weight and Cancer
Posted by
admin 8 October, 2008
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Recent studies from the National Cancer Institute and other research institutions suggest that over 20% of all cancer is related to overweight or obesity. For years, researchers have commented that certain forms of cancer with a link to hormones (for example, breast and endometrial cancer in women, prostate cancer in men) are associated with weight gain, overweight, and obesity. As summarized in a government report on overweight and obesity, obesity increases the risk of breast cancer after menopause because body fat produces the hormone estrogen. Even weight gain not to the point of obesity can be a problem: gaining more than 20 pounds between age 18 and midlife doubles a woman’s breast cancer risk. The risk of colon cancer and other gastrointestinal tract cancers that do not appear to have a connection to hormones also goes up as one’s weight increases.
Categories : Cancer, Dieting, Overweight Problems
A Closer Look at Weight and the Metabolic Syndrome
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admin 8 October, 2008
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Many people have never even heard of the metabolic syndrome, also known as Syndrome X. Until recently, most physicians had never heard of the metabolic syndrome either.Yet this condition—a combination of blood lipid abnormalities, high blood pressure, and elevated blood sugar—affects almost one-quarter of the adult population in the United States. The major underlying cause of the metabolic syndrome is obesity, in particular, increased abdominal fat.
Five different conditions make up the metabolic syndrome:
1. High blood triglycerides
2. Low HDL cholesterol
3. High blood pressure
4. Elevated blood sugar
5. Increased waist circumference (greater than 40 inches in men and greater than 35 inches in women)
The metabolic syndrome is rapidly becoming a significant medical problem because it increases so many risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.Weight loss is the only effective treatment for this condition.
Categories : Dieting, Digestive System, Overweight Problems
A Closer Look at Weight and Diabetes
Posted by
admin 8 October, 2008
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Perhaps the strongest association between weight gain, metabolic abnormalities, and disease risk is found with type 2 diabetes. (Type 1 diabetes typically affects younger people and is caused by the pancreas not producing insulin.) A majority of people who have type 2 diabetes are also overweight, and the incidence of type 2 diabetes is increasing as the population becomes more overweight.
About 90% of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, which develops when the insulin-producing pancreas cannot keep up with the body’s need for insulin, a hormone that helps blood sugar enter cells. With weight gain, cells in the body do not respond properly to insulin, causing an unhealthy rise in blood sugar levels. This is known as insulin resistance.The pancreas produces insulin, but the insulin no longer works effectively.
Weight gain dramatically increases diabetes risk. The risk goes up with weight increases after age 18. The risk also increases about 25% for every unit increase in BMI over 22. One study estimated that more than one-quarter of new cases of type 2 diabetes could be attributed to a weight gain of 11 pounds or more.
If we eliminate adult weight gain and obesity, we could eliminate over 80% of all type 2 diabetes. It is not surprising that one of the first treatment recommendations for type 2 diabetes is to lose weight.
Categories : Diabetes, Overweight Problems
A Closer Look at Weight and Other Cardiovascular Problems
Posted by
admin 5 October, 2008
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Increased weight is associated with increased risk of congestive heart failure, a frequent complication of obesity and a major cause of death. Obesity changes the heart size and structure, preventing it from working properly.
Obesity also dramatically increases the risk of ischemic stroke, which is like a heart attack that happens in the brain. Compared to a woman with a BMI in the healthy range, a woman with a BMI greater than 27 has a 75% higher risk of ischemic stroke, and a woman with a BMI greater than 32 has a 137% higher risk. Losing weight helps reduce the risk of both of these problems.
Categories : Overweight Problems
A Closer Look at Weight and High Blood Pressure
Posted by
admin 5 October, 2008
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If we could eliminate overweight and obesity in our country, we could eliminate between 40% and 70% of the medical diagnoses of high blood pressure. Societies where people don’t gain much weight as they get older do not experience this increase in high blood pressure. The first thing a doctor tells an overweight or obese patient who has high blood pressure is to lose weight. Often this is enough to get his or her blood pressure under control even without any blood pressure medication.
Categories : Heart, Blood, and Circulation, Overweight Problems
A Closer Look at Weight and Blood Cholesterol
Posted by
admin 5 October, 2008
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Increased weight negatively affects cholesterol levels in the body, as well as some of the components of cholesterol.Your total cholesterol level is made up of three different types of cholesterol: LDL (“bad” cholesterol), VLDL (a mixture of triglycerides and cholesterol), and HDL (“good” cholesterol). Each type of cholesterol has a different function. For heart health, the goal is to decrease LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol, since LDL contributes to heart disease risk and HDL helps protect the heart. Increased weight creates problems by increasing LDL levels and decreasing HDL levels. It also drives up triglycerides, another type of fat in the blood.Weight loss improves the blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
| Target Cholesterol Levels | ||
| What Is Stands For | Levels to Aim For (mg/dL) | |
| TG | Triglyceride | Lower than 150 |
| LDL | Low-density lipoprotein | Lower than 100 is optimal; greater than 160 is high |
| HDL | High-density lipoprotein | Greater than 40 |
Categories : Heart, Blood, and Circulation, Overweight Problems
A Closer Look at Weight and Heart Disease
Posted by
admin 5 October, 2008
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Heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women; 54% of all deaths result from heart disease. Being overweight or obese or having too much abdominal fat are strongly associated with heart disease risk factors including an increase in total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure. Overweight, obesity, and abdominal fat increase the risk of diabetes, which is a heart disease risk factor.
Being overweight also directly affects risk of heart disease—if your BMI is in the overweight range, your heart disease risk doubles compared to people with BMIs in the healthy weight range. If your BMI is in the obese category, your heart disease risk quadruples. Losing weight reduces the risk of heart disease.
Categories : Heart, Blood, and Circulation, Overweight Problems
