Is obesity a real disease?

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Extract from the article: Obesity has the characteristics of a disease. What are the arguments for considering obesity as a chronic and recurrent disease process?

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Obesity has the characteristics of a disease. What are the arguments for considering obesity as a chronic and recurrent disease process?

Obesity is defined as an adult with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30.0. BMI is calculated by taking a person's weight in kg and dividing it by their height squared in metres. In Togo, according to the 2010 STEPS survey, 21.6% of the Togolese population is obese or overweight. A cross-sectional survey conducted in urban schools from 5 to 9 May 2008 at the Protestant College of Lomé showed that the prevalence of obesity among students was 1.72% and that of overweight was 2.86%. The predominance of females is statistically significant. Students aged 15 and 16 were the most affected by excess weight.

For researchers at Louisiana State University, from a biological point of view, an agent affects the host and triggers the disease. The agent here is food, especially food with a high energy or caloric value, too much fat or too much sugar. The host is man. Food abundance, low physical activity and environmental factors interact with the genetic susceptibility of the host, throwing the energy balance out of balance. The journal « Obesity Reviews » explains that this excess, the excess of caloric intake over expenditure, is stored as fat in increasingly large and numerous fat cells, knowing that lipids can infiltrate organs such as the liver. This leads to the production and secretion of a variety of metabolic, hormonal and inflammatory substances, which can cause damage to the arteries, heart, liver, muscles and pancreas. At the individual level, the extent of obesity and its adverse effects on the body are linked to the virulence or toxicity of the environment and its interactions with the body. As the researchers point out, obesity fits the epidemiological model of a disease process, except that the toxic agent is the food rather than the microbe. This is important for a number of reasons, both for individual overweight people and for the community as a whole: the health problems associated with obesity warrant major attention in terms of prevention and management, just like any other chronic disease.

Raymond DZAKPATA