OBESITYOBESITY
By: Melanie Camara
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
| TABLE OF
CONTENTS: I. Definition of Obese(diagnosing) | Obesity is a disease in which the individual's body weight exceeds their
desirable weight for height and gender by 20% or more and if excess weight is
fat rather than water, muscle, or bone. The major causes of obesity are genetics and overeating. If one's parents are obese their chances of becoming obese are very high. When one overeats and doesn't expend that excess energy, fat accumulates. In order to maintain weight, energy in must equal energy out. There are many risks of obesity such as coronary heart disease (CHD), diabetes mallitis, hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, death, and many others. Treatments for obesity are rather new. There are drugs such as dexfenfluramine (Redux) and fenfluramine a.k.a. pondimin which have recently been approved by the FDA. Other treatments include very low calorie diets and exercise, and surgical procedures such as the Vertical Silastic Ring Gastroplasty and Roux-en-Y Bypass Gastroplasty. Obese children usually end up as obese adults. There are successful ways of preventing and treating obesity in childhood which reduces risks of adult obesity. Some psychological effects of obesity include negative self-image, secluded social life, unhappy marriages, inferiority complex. |