Nutrition Science and Everyday Application - beta v 0.1

394 ALICE CALLAHAN, PHD, HEATHER LEONARD, MED, RDN, AND TAMBERLY POWELL, MS, RDN
What are the specific risks associated with being overweight or underweight? Let’s take a
closer look at each of these situations.
HEALTH RISKS OF BEING OVERWEIGHT OR OBESE
The health consequences of too much body fat are numerous. Fat cells are not lifeless
storage tanks—they’re dynamic, metabolically-active tissue that secrete a number of
different hormones and hormone-like messengers, causing low-grade inflammation that’s
believed to contribute to chronic disease development such as type 2 diabetes,
cardiovascular disease, and some types of cancer.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more people worldwide who
are overweight or obese than underweight, and an estimated 2.8 million adults die annually
as a result of being overweight or obese. 2 As BMI increases over 25, the risks increase for
several health conditions, 3 including:
• Heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes
• Hypertension
• Stroke
• Osteoarthritis
• Sleep apnea
• Some cancers (endometrial, breast, colon, kidney, gallbladder, liver)
• Depression and anxiety
• Difficulty with physical movement
• Lower quality of life
Childhood obesity is also a global health concern. In 2016 over 340 million children
and adolescents and 41 million preschool children were overweight or obese. And obese
children are more likely to become obese adults, develop diabetes and cardiovascular
disease at younger ages, and have an increased risk of premature death. 2
Similar to other public health organizations, the WHO states that the main causes of
the global obesity epidemic are increased intake of energy-dense foods and decreased
physical activity associated with modernization, industrialization, and urbanization. The
environmental changes that contribute to the dietary and physical activity patterns of the
world today are associated with the lack of policies that address the obesity epidemic in the
food and health industry, urban planning, agriculture, and education sectors. 2