The dangers of obesity: mortality, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension.
7. What are the health hazards of obesity?
Combating obesity requires long-term and arduous efforts. Those with weak willpower often fail. Before people are determined to fight obesity resolutely, they must fully understand its various harms. Whether from a health perspective, or from physiological, psychological, economic, or social perspectives, the harms of obesity are significant.
From a health perspective, years of research have confirmed that obesity is a major threat to human health and longevity. Once a person exceeds their ideal weight, the mortality rate increases significantly with further weight gain. Obesity is a breeding ground for many chronic diseases, and the idea that being a little overweight is harmless is extremely dangerous. The author conducted a study on the relationship between body fat content and blood lipids, blood pressure, and certain diseases in middle-aged (35-60 years old) cadres. The results showed a highly significant positive correlation between body fat content and serum triglycerides and blood pressure, and a significant negative correlation with apolipoprotein AI. There were significant differences in serum triglycerides, apolipoprotein AI, apolipoprotein B, and blood pressure between obese individuals and those with normal body fat content. The incidence of hyperlipidemia, hypertension, coronary heart disease, fatty liver, diabetes, cholecystitis, and cerebral infarction was significantly higher in obese individuals than in those with normal body fat.
From a social perspective, obese people often fall into a vicious cycle. Initially, their social interactions decrease, their weight gradually increases, and the fatter they are, the more socially ostracized they become. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to becoming victims of this vicious cycle.
From an economic perspective, obesity restricts a person's career choices and inevitably affects their income. Obesity-related illnesses and reduced work opportunities represent a significant economic burden.
From a psychological perspective, obesity is often associated with eccentric personality traits, especially in obese women who often exhibit low self-esteem, negativity, and sensitivity. These personality traits can have lifelong effects.
While lifespan does not necessarily reflect quality of life, longevity remains an important indicator of health status and reflects the level of civilization, development, and overall health of a nation or region. Therefore, when exploring the impact of disease on health, the first consideration should be its impact on lifespan.
The exact length of human lifespan (referring to natural lifespan, i.e., the maximum lifespan) has long been a question explored by scientists. The renowned French biologist, Baffen, based on the theory that human lifespan shares a common developmental pattern with that of certain mammals (natural lifespan being 5-7 times the growth and development period), believed that human natural lifespan should reach 100-154 years. Some scholars, based on the relationship between the maximum lifespan of mammals and their sexual maturity, estimate that human natural lifespan should be 100-150 years. So, what causes humans to not actually reach their natural lifespan? Disease.
While humanity strives to prevent aging and prolong life, the serious threat posed by obesity to lifespan has not yet received sufficient attention from society. Often, doctors are concerned, while patients are not, which is related to the fact that obesity is not, in most cases, a direct cause of death. However, the numerous diseases caused by obesity shatter the longevity aspirations of the elderly. The premature deaths of middle-aged people powerfully demonstrate that obesity is one of the most dangerous factors for healthy longevity. A study by American scientists shows that for people over 45 years old whose weight exceeds 10%, every 0.5 kg increase reduces their lifespan by 29 days. Statistics from a British life insurance company indicate that obese individuals live 3.6 to 15.1 years less than those of normal weight.
Data from US insurance companies shows that in the past decade, five of the top ten causes of death are closely related to obesity, including coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease (stroke), diabetes, cirrhosis, and cancer. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases account for 41% of these deaths, and they are extremely closely related to obesity. According to my country's health development statistics report, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are the leading cause of death among urban residents, accounting for about half of all deaths. Furthermore, with the improvement of people's living standards, this trend is increasing year by year.
Modern medical research reveals that obese individuals have a lifespan 5 to 20 years shorter than those of normal weight. For example, a 35-year-old man whose actual weight exceeds the standard weight by 10% will live 4.7 years less; if it exceeds 20%, he will live 9.08 years less. The incidence of coronary heart disease in obese individuals is 5 times that of those of normal weight. Among patients who die from heart failure after the age of 40 to 50, obese patients are twice as likely as those of normal weight. Obese individuals are 3 times more likely to die from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases than those of normal weight. There are also significant differences in mortality rates between obese and normal-weight individuals for many other diseases, such as diabetes, cirrhosis, appendicitis, and gallstones, where the mortality rate for obese individuals is 2.03 to 3.83 times that of those of normal weight. Specifically, the mortality rate for obese individuals with diabetes is 6 times that of those of normal weight, and the mortality rate for obese individuals with cirrhosis is 5 times that of those of normal weight.
Within the same age group, mortality rate increases with increasing body weight. A comparison of mortality rates between individuals with different degrees of obesity and those of normal weight is shown in the table.
The impact of different degrees of obesity on mortality
Those who are overweight (%) have a higher mortality rate than those with normal weight (%)
10 10～15
20 20～25
30 40～45
40 70
If everyone could maintain a healthy weight, the incidence of coronary heart disease could decrease by 25%, and the incidence of congestive heart failure and cerebrovascular disease could decrease by 35%. If these diseases were controlled, average human lifespan could potentially increase by 6-8 years. This clearly demonstrates the crucial importance of weight loss and obesity prevention for healthy longevity.
From the very beginning of obesity, numerous diseases are brewing, gradually developing from nothing to something, from mild to severe, from latent to overt, becoming increasingly apparent. Most of these diseases are what people commonly refer to as "diseases of affluence," including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, fatty liver, gallstones and gout, osteoarthritis, cataracts, colon cancer, and rectal cancer. For severely obese patients, the most life-threatening condition is pulmonary heart syndrome.
Obesity poses multifaceted health risks, not only causing physical deformities, mobility issues, and psychological problems such as feelings of inferiority, but also easily leading to a series of serious diseases that endanger human health, including hyperlipidemia, hypertension, coronary heart disease, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, gallstones, and fatty liver. These diseases directly affect a person's lifespan, making it a killer of humanity in the 21st century and a major enemy of human health.
According to reports, obese individuals have a lifespan 5 to 20 years shorter than those of normal weight. Although obesity is not a direct cause of death, many serious diseases it leads to, such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, cerebral hemorrhage, and cerebral infarction, directly impact the health and lifespan of obese individuals. Therefore, people should have a clear understanding of the harm obesity poses to human health, or rather, the diseases that obesity easily leads to. The proverb "Obesity breeds a hundred diseases" has some scientific basis.
**8. What is the relationship between obesity and hyperlipidemia?**
Hyperlipidemia refers to a condition where blood cholesterol or triglycerides exceed the normal range. Generally speaking, hyperlipidemia is defined as a plasma total cholesterol (TC) concentration exceeding 5.7 mmol/L (220 mg/dL) and/or triglyceride (TG) concentration exceeding 1.5–1.69 mmol/L (130–150 mg/dL), excluding secondary causes. Hyperlipidemia is one of the three major risk factors for atherosclerosis. Elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) are risk factors for coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CAD).
The characteristics of lipid metabolism in obese patients are: elevated plasma free fatty acids, and generally increased blood lipid components such as cholesterol, triglycerides, and total lipids. Obese individuals often have impaired glucose tolerance and hyperinsulinemia, prompting the liver to synthesize large amounts of triglycerides, resulting in endogenous hyperlipidemia. Obese individuals have a reduced number of insulin receptors in fat, muscle, and hepatocytes, making them insensitive to insulin; cholesterol, triglycerides, and free fatty acids are often elevated in these patients. Therefore, obese patients are prone to developing atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, diabetes, gallstones, and other diseases. Exercise therapy combined with dietary therapy can lead to weight loss and improvement in hyperlipidemia.
**9. What is the relationship between obesity and high blood pressure?**
Regarding the diagnostic criteria for hypertension, my country currently adopts the internationally unified standard, which is a systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg. After two verifications, hypertension can be diagnosed. Based on the level of blood pressure elevation, hypertension is further divided into grades 1, 2, and 3.
The incidence of hypertension is significantly higher in obese patients, and the severity of obesity is directly proportional to the incidence of hypertension. When a person is less than 10% overweight, the incidence of hypertension is 10.3%, while when overweight is 30%–50%, the incidence can be as high as 56%. The mechanisms by which obesity leads to hypertension may include: ① Obese patients have a significant increase in body fat, which increases blood volume, leading to increased peripheral resistance in small arteries, increased cardiac workload, and arteriosclerosis, thus triggering hypertension. ② Obese patients have a certain degree of water and sodium retention, which further increases circulating blood volume, thereby exacerbating hypertension. ③ Genetic factors also play a role.
For obese patients with hypertension, weight loss is an effective measure to prevent the onset of hypertension. For obese individuals who already have hypertension, their hypertension can often be relieved on its own after controlling their weight through a low-calorie diet.