Obesity happens one kilo at a time

Obesity is a severe problem over the world, especially in western countries. The incidence of obesity has been doubled since 1980. In 2014 the incidence of overweight among adults was measured at 39%. Of these overweight adults 13% was considered obese. These numbers do not seem that impressive, but the world population is around 7.3 billion people. This means that 1.9 billion adults are overweight and of these overweight adults 600 million are obese. Consider that obesity is mostly present in the western countries, as shown in figure 1. These numbers suddenly become more shocking. Imagine almost everyone in North America and South America being obese.

Figure 1: Occurance of obesity in men and women over the world. (http://www.worldobesity.org/resources/world-map-obesity/)

A person is considered obese when this person has a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m² or above. Not only is this heavy weight a problem, but obesity also goes accompanied by several diseases such as insulin resistance, cardio vascular diseases, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and dyslipidemia. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease occurs from excessive alcohol use, fat is disposed in the liver. Dyslipedemia means that there is an abnormal amount of lipids (cholesterol and fat) in the blood. Easy access to food is of course the first major problem. Modern societies have access to large portions and high calorie food. Obesity is mainly caused by excessive food energy intake and the lack of physical activity. But some people are also born with a higher chance to become obese. These people have genetic sensitivity. This sensitivity mean that their DNA differs compared to normal people, which results in a slower digestion. As a result of obesity, the body changes. For example fat is stored and no longer used, and cholesterol levels increase. Not only has obesity an effect on the body, but also on the bacteria present in your body. Your gut is full of bacteria and these bacteria are actually very useful, because they help with breaking down food.

Lets continue on those bacteria in the human gut. The human gut consists of a diverse range of different microorganisms, which can be referred to as the microbiota. A microorganism is a microscopic living organism and can be single celled or multicellular. The human gut microbiota consists of at least 10¹³ microorganisms and most of these are anaerobic microorganisms. Anaerobic means these microorganisms do not need oxygen to survive. These 10¹³ different microorganisms can be divided into approximately 500-1000 different species. These large numbers of microorganisms all work perfectly together. The exact number of species cannot be identified, since not all the species are currently known. The microbiota plays a role in the balance between body weight and energy. The microorganisms in the human gut have a symbiotic relationship with their human host. This symbiosis means that both organisms involved entirely depend on each other for survival. It includes where one partner lives inside the other, which is the case of our relationship with the microorganisms. If the numbers of microorganisms in the gut microbiota are changed, the microbiota will start to work differently, and some processes in the gut might obtain errors.

It is best to prevent the changes happening in the gut that occur due to obesity. Sadly it is not always easy to prevent obesity, since food is not the only cause of obesity. Genetic sensitivity to obesity and a different microbiota of the gut are also major causes for obesity. A healthy lifestyle can help to prevent overweight and obesity. This healthy lifestyle can consist of an eating plan with the focus on the balance of the energy that comes in and energy that goes out. Another part of a healthy lifestyle can be doing activities, such as riding a bike, going for a walk or go to the gym. The most important thing is to keep track of your weight, body mass index and the circumference of the waist.

For people with a genetic sensitivity for obesity or a changed gut microbiota this healthy lifestyle is harder to achieve. Medication to change the gut microbiota to normal or acceleration of your digestion could help to prevent obesity. The current obesity medication can have severe and in some cases even lethal side effects. The medication in general causes a risk of high blood pressure, faster hearth rate, drug addiction, restlessness or sleeping disorders.

To understand obesity it is important to know all the species present in the human gut, because there is currently only little knowledge about this, therefore more research is required. Development of medication without side effects is important, because the current medication treatments have severe side effects.

For now live as healthy as you can in order to avoid becoming overweight or obese. If you already are overweight or obese try to reduce your weight naturally. Keep in mind, obesity happens one kilo at a time.

Milou Peek – 08/10/2015