OBESITY AND HEALTH

OBESITY AND HEALTH

The relationship between obesity cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been documented by numerous studies. The following are the major issued that remain unresolved:

1.    Whether there is a threshold level of obesity and increase in prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors.

2.    Whether the increase in risk factors primarily is a function of weight gain over time or the extent of overweight / obesity at a specific age, and

3.    Whether weight gain between different ages has similar effects on cardiovascular risk factors?

Weight gain is associated with increased cardiovascular risk factors. Are the changes in risk factors with weight gain a function of increased caloric intake, decreased energy expenditure, or changes in specific types of calories and nutrients, namely fat, saturated fat, salt intake, or dietary cholesterol? Is the relationship between measures of obesity and risk of CVD linear, or is there a threshold effect? Is there a relationship between the distribution of body fat and risk of CVD, independent of the level of obesity? Is the association of measures of obesity and distribution of body fatness and subsequent risk of CVD age dependent? What are the possible pathophysiological processes that relate obesity and distribution of body fat to the risk of CVD?

            There is solid evidence that weight loss is associated with a decrease in cardiovascular risk factors [such as blood pressure, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC), and blood glucose levels]. Evidence that weight reduction is associated with a decrease in morbidity and mortality caused by CVD is weaker, and the magnitude of the effect is still unknown.