HEALTH IMPLICATIONS OF OBESITY

The health risks of obesity increase with its severity and reach significance at a weight > 20% above optimal, by using life insurance tables, or at a body mass index > 27. Risks include hypertension, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, hypertriglyceridemia, low high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, and, in some studies, high total-and low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol. There is an increased mortality from endometrial cancer in women and from colorectal cancer in men. Chronic hypoxia and hypercapnia, sleep apnea, gout, and degenerative joint disease can occur with more severe obesity. The distribution of body fat is directly related to these health risk. Abdominal obesity is more dangerous than gluteal-femoral obesity because the amount of intraabdominal fat seems to determine much of the increased peril; therefore, risks of cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, and diabetes increase with abdominal obesity, even independently of total fat mass.