Obesity, the 21st Century pandemic

One of the main pandemics of the 21st Century, especially in developed countries, is Obesity and overweight, caused mostly by an unhealthy lifestyle. Associated with this health condition, other clinical alterations and abnormalities may be developed that increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and, for this reason, weight gain must be prevented.

One of the main triggers of this risk is eating behaviour, most of which is unbalanced and maladjusted to individual needs. Thus, a large part of the heart diseases that appear in the population could be avoided just by changing behaviour, both in terms of diet and physical activity.

Following this disorder, other health problems arise, such as Metabolic Syndrome. This syndrome is a condition directly linked with increased predisposition to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk.

Metabolic Syndrome

It’s a set of clinical symptoms, where there are metabolic alterations caused by excess body adiposity (fat) and for the diagnosis to occur, it’s necessary to have at least three of the symptoms mentioned.

This includes visceral obesity (high waist circumference), insulin resistance or hyperglycaemia (increased glycaemia levels), high blood pressure, increased triglycerides and a decreased value of HDL cholesterol levels (dyslipidaemia).

Visceral Obesity

When fat accumulates (especially in the torso area), it can be visceral or subcutaneous. The significant increase in adipocytes causes an increase in adipocytokines and free fatty acids, promoting inflammation of the adipose tissue. Fat stimulates muscle resistance to insulin and is degraded into ketone bodies (in the liver). This problem occurs especially when the food balance is positive, that is, calorie intake is higher than expenditure.

Insulin resistance or hyperglycaemia

Individuals with this clinical symptom have poor glucose metabolism, as the insulin concentration cannot respond to the total glycaemia in the blood.

The rise in glycaemia levels may occur during fasting or postprandial (after a meal). In some cases, hyperglycaemia may not be an immediate symptom of Metabolic Syndrome, but a late consequence of it, which can lead to retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy in the long term.

High Blood Pressure

This symptom can be justified by increased sodium reabsorption (caused by insulin resistance) increasing intravascular volume or by activation of the renin-angiotensin system, causing changes in circulating blood volume, cardiac preload and cardiac output.

Dyslipidaemia

Represented by an increase in triglyceride levels and low concentration of HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol). As LDL cholesterol can increase with this situation, it’s important to keep it controlled within the values, as the latter has an atherogenic character. This dysregulation is one of the main causes of thrombotic events, increasing cardiovascular risk.

It should be remembered that the vast majority of these clinical and metabolic alterations are caused by behavioural issues, so they are modifiable. Therefore, it’s important to raise awareness for change, when the several symptoms start to appear, since ignoring any of them may lead to an aggravated clinical diagnosis.

Nutritionist, Jacinta Mendes
3341N