Is the development of overweight and obesity influenced by poor metabolism, genes, or maybe hormones? Answering these questions will help understand the mechanism of obesity and facilitate treatment program development.
Overweightis an increased body weight in relation to the accepted norms. On the other hand,obesityis a complicated chronic disease, the symptom of which is excess fatty tissue under the skin and on internal organs. Obesity is also the cause of many other serious diseases that can lead to premature death.
Improper diet, not enough exercise - the main causes of obesity
Have you noticed how much our eating habits have changed over the past decades? Fat consumption has doubled. We eat much more carbohydrates and sugar. Our great-grandfathers and grandfathers were much more likely to eat natural foods with a lot of fiber. Unfortunately, processed foods dominate our menu. We are more and more willing to reach for ready-made dishes that contain condensed energy, i.e. a small amount of food contains a lot of calories. In addition, we eat irregularly, often one or two very generous meals a day. We are just about to move. Cars, elevators, mechanized home equipment and a remote control that helps us change channels on the TV. Add to that the fact that we live in overheated rooms, where the body does not have to use internal energy to heat the body. This is just a handful of the so-called environmental factors that can lead to excess weight in us. And if we don't treat it in time, overweight can develop into obesity.
Genes, hormones and neurotransmitters may be responsible for obesity and overweight
It is believed that the cause of excess weight may be genes, hormones, and also neurotransmitters - substances responsible for the processes taking place in the brain. Indeed, they influence the feeling of hunger and satiety as well as the speed ofmetabolism . Epidemiological studies suggest that children who are malnourished in the womb have a tendency to "gain weight" later.
The mechanism of "getting fat"
After a meal, glucose and fats from the food travel through the bloodstream to the fat cells. There they turn into fat which will be used as a sourceenergy necessary for all life processes. If the body does not use up the received portion of "fuel", it will be prevented from postponing it. It collects them in warehouses, i.e. fat cells that grow to accommodate supplies. Their weight grows, and so does our body weight.
If we lose weight, the size of fat cells will decrease, but their number will remain the same. Even after they are mechanically suctioned during the liposuction procedure, the body can make up for this loss quite quickly. It is as if he was storing the exact number of his fat cells in his memory and trying to replace the ones that were taken from him. He is prepared for it. Immature cells are stored deep in the adipose tissue. They are tiny, but "voracious". If we feed them well with unhe althy food, they will soon turn into large cells. This process occurs most often when we are on an intensive reduction diet, i.e. slimming diet, and then give it up and return to the previous diet.
Factors contributing to obesity
They are different for each organism. Whether our weight will increase depends, among others, on on how much energy our body needs for proper functioning, i.e. basic metabolism. People who need a lot of energy to run the body on a daily basis can eat a little more because they burn calories faster, which means they have a faster metabolism. Those who need little energy to live and supply too much of it to the body are overweight or obese.
Is it possible to have an "innate tendency" to "gain weight"?
Yes. This is called genetic predisposition to obesity. When one of the parents is obese, there are 40 percent. the risk that each of the children will also get the disease. If both parents are sick, the risk increases to 80% in each child. Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to become obese in adulthood. But not everything is the fault of the genes. Modern society is genetically prone to obesity because we all come from a time when nature preferred individuals with an economical type of energy management. Only those who survived the food shortage and the cold season survived. Today these genes have awakened in us again.
Are overfed children at risk of obesity in the future?
Mostly yes. Overfeeding children is a scourge in our country. There is still a perception that a fat baby is he althy. Successive generations of grandmothers and mothers do not accept that once developed fat cells will never disappear. Even if the child loses weight, fat cellswill remain. They will wait their turn for years to fully develop, increase the weight of a child and turn it into an obese young man and then an adult man.
ImportantPoradnikzdrowie.pl supports safe treatment and a dignified life of people suffering from obesity.
This article does not contain discriminatory and stigmatizing content for people suffering from obesity.