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Is obesity a disease?

In addition to being a disease itself, obesity also leads to numerous other physiological illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure, or even to psychological and psychiatric illnesses like depression which almost 80% of obese people get. This illnesses not only affect the obese person but also that person's family and friends.

In addition, uncontrollable intake of sugars can decrease IQ for 25 points and introduce early dementia.
Contributors to obesity are also irregular intake of meals (frequent snacks or skipping meals), as well as lack of exercises in appropriate times of the day (best before breakfast, and before lunch). People should not exercise 2-3 hours after meals as it doesn't have effect on burning fat as fat cells are 'closed' and in the 'store-in' mode during digestion. Frequent snacks keep our body in digest mode often, while skipping meals brings body into the 'save energy' mode. Both modes preserve fat.[1][2] Which had more influence on this change: introduction of fast food or the use of cars? Is there an example where only one of the above was introduced and the population health was affected? Okinawa is a great example which illustrates the emergence of obesity. After having the highest life expectancy in Japan for a very long time, Okinawans' longevity dropped significantly and they are becoming Japan's fattest people. Because they were ruled directly by the United States from the end of World War II to 1972, Okinawans, of all Japanese, have most closely adopted the American lifestyle of cars, suburban malls and fast food.

Lifestyle is the main cause of obesity. [3] This addiction is caused by high amounts of fat, sugar, and salt contained within junk foods. They have a biological effect on our bodies and produce real addiction. Obesity, a condition of increased body weight caused by excessive accumulation of fat, is a disease. It occurs either due to genetics, but in recent times much more often due to significant intake of widely available cheap junk foods, GM foods, sugar added foods.

This excessive intake may be attributed to 'addiction'. However, it is not the excessive intake of food that is the problem, but excessive intake of low quality food. Is obesity a disease?





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References:

1. http://www.sportsci.org/encyc/adipose/adipose.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adipose_tissue
3. http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-04-04/news/17420824_1_urasoe-japan-naha-okinawa


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