Obesity and Stem Cell Therapy
What Is Obesity?
Obesity is a condition in which an individual has an excessive amount of fat in the body. This excessive amount of fat predisposes the person to a lot of health risks. Obesity can be determined by the body mass index. The body mass index can be calculated by dividing the weight of the person by the square of the height in meters. Below is the standard for a different kind of body weight
Underweight- Below 18.5
Normal weight- Between 18.5-25
Overweight-25.5-30
Obesity- Above 30
Obesity can be redefined as the condition in which a person has a body mass index that is above 30. There are many factors that can lead to the development of obesity. Some of the factors are an unhealthy diet, genetics, lack of exercise and sedentary lifestyle. Some of the factors contribute one way or the other to the development of obesity. In addition to this, obesity increases the risk of having some diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, heart-related conditions, some types of cancer, arthritis, fatigue and mental conditions such as depression and depressive syndrome. Obesity is a condition that can be avoided and can totally be reversed if the individual is willing to work hard at it.
How Does Obesity Affect Human Health?
As described earlier, obesity is a condition in which the body has a large and excessive amount of fat. Obesity reduces the longevity of people. Below are some of the ways obesity affects the health
- It reduces longevity: Obesity has been ranked as one of the common cause of preventable death. According to statistics, people with the normal body mass index have the least mortality rate, as compared to those above 30. Obese people have the highest risk of mortality. While they have been arguments about a type of obesity called the “medically healthy obesity” on whether it’s really a thing or not. Evidence has proven that it’s just a temporary phase, and people who are medically healthy obese would still end up becoming unhealthy obese. The idea behind the medically healthy obesity is that those who do not have a large amount of fat in their abdomen have lesser risks of mortality. Obesity has been proven to reduce the lifespan of people by at least seven years.
- It increases the risk of having diseases: Obesity makes people more prone to having diseases. This can be attributed to the fat accumulation associated with obesity. Some of the diseases associated with obesity are hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis and so on. Apart from the physical ailments, obesity also affects the mind and mental state of the individual. Obese people usually have a low self-esteem, as compared to others. They can also become depressed, especially when they’ve tried to lose their weight but recorded no success. Below are some of the effects of obesity on each body system
- Cardiovascular system– Obesity increases the risk of having coronary heart diseases. This is because of fat deposits in the vessels, leading to the obstruction of blood flow, thereby leading to the development of a high blood pressure in the vessels. This can lead to hypertension if it’s uncontrolled. In addition, patients have a very high risk of having pulmonary embolism after undergoing any form of surgery, because of the excessive fat in their body.
- Mental state: Obesity reduces the self-esteem of people. This is most common to ladies because they feel they’re not attractive enough, and they also find it difficult getting an outfit that sizes them. All these coupled with the feeling of being an outcast in the society affects their mental state and might lead to depression. This becomes worse, when they’re trying to shed some weight, but can’t record many breakthroughs.
- Endocrine system: Obesity and diabetes mellitus are tightly connected to each other. In fact, it’s almost impossible to have one without the other. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is as a result of insulin resistance, which occurs due to excessive fat. This is the connection between the two. The first line of management of type 2 diabetes mellitus is that patients should change their diet and lose some weight. In addition, pregnant obese women often give birth to overweight babies. This kind of babies might come out with some defects if nothing is done about the weight of the mother.
- Effects on the joints: Obesity predisposes people to arthritis. This is because the weight of the patient surpasses the strength of their joints and bones. In morbid obesity, patients usually lose their ability to walk. They usually lie in bed all day and eat. In addition to this, they also have pains in their lower back. In addition, they might also develop gout.
- Respiratory system: Obese people usually have obstructive sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is when people find it difficult to breathe when sleeping. This can lead to death in severe cases. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs due to the deposition of fat in the throat and in the palate. Obesity also increases the risk of having asthma.
- Cancer: Obesity predisposes people to different kinds of cancer such as breast and colon cancer. In addition, there have been reports of cancer of the pancreas.
How Is Obesity Currently Treated
The first line of treatment is diet and exercise. Losing weight needs a lot of hard work and consistency. However, the results are always good if the individual keeps at it.
- Diet: Obese must eat less of junks, carbohydrates and more of vegetables. In addition, they’re advised to eat less quantity of food. This can be achieved by drinking a large amount of water before eating.
- Exercise: Cardio exercise is the best way to lose weight. This includes walking, running, swimming and so on.
- Gastric bypass surgery: This is done to remove excess fat from the body. However, this procedure does have a lot of side effects, but this is the fastest way of eliminating fat.
Stem Cell Therapy
There is a number of stem cells that are capable of regenerating and replacing the entire bone marrow. These stem cells can replace the blood cells and also the immune system. Introducing the stem cells into the body helps obese patients lose weight naturally.
References
Kyle, T. and Puhl, R. (2014). Putting people first in obesity. Obesity, 22(5), pp.1211-1211.
Ma, S., Wong, W. and Wang, D. (2017). Obesity reshapes stem cell-extracellular vesicles. Cytometry Part A.
Obesity as a Disease: The Obesity Society Council Resolution. (2008). Obesity, 16(6), pp.1151-1151.
The Obesity Society 2017 Awards and Grants. (2017). Obesity, 26(1), pp.233-238.
