How Being Overweight Impacts Your Health

Being overweight can increase your risk for serious health issues and diminish your life expectancy. However, even modest weight loss can substantially enhance health.

Understanding the heightened health hazards

In addition to increasing your weight, extra pounds increase your risk for serious health problems. People who are overweight or obese have an increased risk of developing heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, and melancholy. Fortunately, reducing weight can reduce the likelihood of developing some of these conditions.

Your weight and health

You are at a greater-than-average risk for a whopping 50 distinct health problems if you are overweight. These conditions include the primary causes of death in the United States, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and certain cancers, as well as less common conditions like gout and gallstones. Even more compelling is the correlation between obesity and depression, as this common mood disorder can have a significant negative effect on your daily life.

A Harvard study that analyzed data from over 50,000 men (participants in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) and over 120,000 women (participants in the Nurses' Health Study) revealed some alarming statistics regarding weight and health.

The volunteers provided information on their height, weight, diets, health routines, and medical histories. Researchers followed the volunteers for over a decade. They recorded the occurrence of diseases and compared those occurrences with each subject's body mass index (BMI)—a measure of a person's relative body fat based on their height and weight.

Obesity multiplied the risk of diabetes by 20 and significantly increased the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and pancreatitis. There was a direct correlation between BMI and risk among individuals who were overweight or obese: the higher the BMI, the greater the likelihood of disease.

obesity and melancholy

People gain weight due to depression, or do they develop depression as a result of being overweight? A review of fifteen studies revealed evidence that both hypotheses are likely accurate. The study, which was published in 2010 in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found that obese people have a 55% greater risk of developing depression than normal-weight individuals. Here are some of the reasons why obesity may increase the risk of developing depression:

Both conditions appear to be caused (at least in part) by stress-induced changes in brain chemistry and function.
Moreover, psychological factors are plausible. In our culture, thinness is synonymous with attractiveness, and being overweight can lower self-esteem, a known depression trigger.
Abnormal eating habits and eating disorders, as well as the physical distress of being obese, are known to contribute to the development of depression.

The study also found that melancholy individuals are 58% more likely to become obese. Here are several explanations why depression may contribute to weight gain:

According to one hypothesis, elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol (common in depressed individuals) may alter substances in fat cells that increase the likelihood of fat accumulation, particularly in the abdomen.
People who are depressed frequently lack the motivation to eat well and exercise routinely, making them more susceptible to gaining weight.
Some antidepressant medications result in weight increase.

Obesity, cardiac disease, and stroke

Some of the most prevalent problems associated with obesity, such as high blood pressure and unhealthy levels of cholesterol and other blood fats, tend to co-occur. Both can result in concurrent health issues, namely cardiovascular disease and stroke.

People who are obese are approximately six times more likely to have high blood pressure than those who are slender. According to the American Heart Association, 22 pounds of excess weight boosts systolic blood pressure (the first number in a reading) by an average of 3 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and diastolic blood pressure (the second number) by an average of 2.3 mm Hg, which translates to a 24% increase in stroke risk.

A 2007 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine investigated the relationship between weight and heart disease by combining the findings of 21 separate studies involving over 300,000 individuals. The investigation revealed:

Being overweight increased the risk of cardiovascular disease by 32%.
Increasing the risk by 81% was obesity

Despite the fact that the negative effects of obesity on blood pressure and cholesterol levels could account for 45% of the increased heart disease risk, the authors concluded that even modest quantities of excess weight can increase the likelihood of heart disease independent of these well-known risks.

Compared to individuals of normal weight, those who are overweight have a 22% increased risk of stroke. The risk rises to 64% for those who are obese, according to a 2010 report in the journal Stroke that analyzed the results of 25 studies involving more than two million individuals.

Weight and diabetes

The relationship between obesity and diabetes is so strong that experts have coined the term "diabesity" to characterize the phenomenon. About ninety percent of individuals with type 2 diabetes, the most prevalent form of the disease, are overweight or obese. From 1996 to 2006, the incidence of diabetes increased dramatically by nearly 65 percent.

High blood sugar, the defining characteristic of diabetes, is one of the characteristics of metabolic syndrome. Untreated or inadequately managed diabetes can result in a number of severe health complications, including kidney failure, blindness, and amputations of the foot or leg. In the United States, diabetes is currently the seventh leading cause of mortality.

Obesity and cancer

According to some specialists, obesity is the second leading cause of cancer deaths, following cigarette smoking.

In a 16-year study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the American Cancer Society observed more than 900,000 individuals. The study revealed a correlation between obesity and numerous types of cancer. Among the conclusions are:

Overweight and obesity may account for 14% of all cancer fatalities among men aged 50 and older and 20% of all cancer deaths among women aged 50 and older.
Higher BMIs were associated with an increased risk of death from cancers of the esophagus, colon and rectum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and kidney in both men and women.
In men, obesity also enhanced the risk of stomach or prostate cancer-related mortality.
In women with higher BMIs, breast, uterine, cervix, and ovarian cancer fatalities were more prevalent.
A review published in The Lancet in 2008 reached comparable conclusions. Extremely overweight individuals are less likely to undergo cancer screenings such as Pap smears and mammograms.

According to a study published in The International Journal of Obesity, the larger a woman is, the more likely she is to delay having a pelvic exam, primarily due to negative interactions with physicians and their office staff. Prostate examinations may be physically challenging for men who are extremely overweight, especially if they tend to store fat in their hips, buttocks, or thighs.