What’s the ‘big’ deal with obesity?

Note: sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox at 8 AM IST every Tuesday.

tl;dr:

1. The negative effects of obesity have been shown to span several aspects of life including cognitive function, cardiovascular health, productivity and mental health. These impact our productivity and performance at work as well.?
2. I’ve written about different aspects of obesity prevention and management in some of my previous newsletters. Most notably, below is what can help you get started on your journey:-> Incorporating carbohydrate control. Learn more about how you should do it here.?-> Decoding carbohydrate control from the perspective of calorie restriction. Understand the details of the best ways to incorporate it into your routine here.-> ‘Magic drugs’ that could help aid weight loss in case your BMI is over 30 and other weight loss efforts have not been successful. Learn more here.-> Practise intuitive eating to aid your journey. Learn more here.
3. 3. If you’re looking for my support in your longevity journey, book a blood + consult here: book a consult

Longevity Lesson

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering if obesity really is as big of a deal as people make it out to be, here’s a quick look at some of the latest data on obesity. And yes, it affects all of us — not just those experiencing the physiological and societal challenges of obesity firsthand. Moreover, research shows that obesity can have a significant impact on workplace performance, affecting productivity and overall job satisfaction.?

Obesity — the silent pandemic

Obesity is defined as a condition characterised by excess body fat accumulation, typically resulting from an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. It differs from other forms of fat distribution, such as visceral fat (which surrounds the organs), subcutaneous fat (found under the skin), and liver fat (accumulated in the liver). However, visceral fat and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are often associated with obesity.?

With over a billion people worldwide classified as obese, including millions of adults, adolescents, and children, the global obesity crisis continues to escalate. Projections from the World Health Organization suggest that by 2025, approximately 167 million individuals will experience health challenges due to excess weight. The World Obesity Atlas 2023 warns of an alarming economic impact, estimating a staggering $4.32 trillion per year by 2035 if current preventive and treatment measures remain unchanged, equivalent to the economic toll of COVID-19 in 2020. By 2035, more than half of the world's population is expected to be overweight or obese, with obesity affecting approximately one in every four individuals.

India, ranking third globally in terms of obesity prevalence, faces significant challenges in combating this issue. According to the National Family Health Survey conducted between 2019 and 2021, obesity rates in India are alarmingly high, with 40.3% of the population affected. Notably, obesity is more prevalent among women, particularly in urban areas, while men exhibit higher rates of overweight or obesity in cities compared to rural regions. Disturbingly, a significant proportion of the population, including 56.7% of women and 47.7% of men, exhibit high-risk waist-to-hip ratios, indicating heightened health risks. If current trends persist, the global population of clinically obese individuals is projected to surpass 4 billion, comprising over half of the world's population, within the next 12 years.

P.S. If you’d like my support in your longevity journey, schedule a consultation call here: here

How can obesity weigh you down at work?

Obesity can have a significant impact on workplace performance due to various physical and psychological factors. Here's how:

1. Diminished Sleep Quality: Obesity has been linked to higher rates of insomnia and daytime sleepiness. Even those who sleep through the night may experience fatigue. Experts propose that obesity alters metabolism or sleep cycles, impacting sleep quality. Moreover, the negative impacts of poor sleep on well-being and productivity have been heavily documented and include less job satisfaction and higher negative effects in association with the workplace.

1. Decreased Productivity: Research indicates that obesity is associated with decreased productivity in the workplace, including higher rates of absenteeism, presenteeism (being present at work but not fully productive), and disability. This decreased productivity can directly impact job performance and efficiency, leading to potential career setbacks.

1. Cognitive Function: Obesity is linked to cognitive impairments, including decreased memory, attention, and executive functioning, and studies have found that obesity in midlife is associated with a higher risk of dementia later in life. These cognitive impairments can hinder decision-making, problem-solving, and overall job performance in white-collar professions that require complex cognitive tasks.

1. Mental Health: Obesity has also been found to be associated with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. These psychological factors can affect job satisfaction, interpersonal relationships with colleagues, and overall workplace morale, thereby impacting job performance.?

1. Physical Health: Obesity is linked to various chronic health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and musculoskeletal disorders. These health issues can lead to fatigue, decreased mobility, and chronic pain, all of which can impede performance in sedentary white-collar jobs that require long hours of sitting.

1. Stigma and discrimination: Obese individuals may face discrimination and stigma in the workplace, which can contribute to stress, anxiety, and lower job satisfaction. Obese individuals are also often perceived as less competent, less productive, and less suitable for leadership positions, which can negatively impact their career advancement opportunities and overall job performance.

What tips the scales towards obesity risk?

There is no single root cause of obesity. Multiple factors across personal, environmental, social and financial life contexts affect a person’s odds of developing obesity. Here’s a quick overview of some of these factors.

• Overweight and obesity often develop when we consume more calories than we burn, leading to an energy imbalance. This imbalance occurs when our calorie intake exceeds what our bodies use for activities like breathing and physical movement.?
• Factors like large meals high in refined grains, unhealthy fats, and sugary drinks contribute significantly to obesity. Lack of sleep and physical activity also play a role, as has the rise in portion sizes and fast food consumption over the past few decades.?
• Our eating habits, influenced by our surroundings and lifestyle, make it easy to overeat and challenging to stay active. Busy schedules, long hours of sedentary work, and limited time for exercise and healthy meal preparation further exacerbate the issue.?
• Additionally, personal lifestyle factors such as stress, irregular sleep patterns, smoking, and exposure to misleading health advertisements all contribute to the prevalence of obesity.

P.S. If you’d like my support in your longevity journey, schedule a consultation call here: here

Does the current approach to obesity work?

When it comes to treating obesity, the healthcare world has recently been abuzz with conversation around drugs like Ozempic. However, GLP medications like Ozmepic are not suitable for everyone. Here’s a quick download of some of the biggest concerns around these drugs:

• They should not be used by individuals with a history of pancreatitis, thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or medullary thyroid cancer.?
• Pregnant or nursing women should also avoid these medications.?
• Additionally, people with serious gastrointestinal disorders, such as gastroparesis and inflammatory bowel disease, should steer clear of GLP-1 receptor agonists due to their potential to worsen symptoms by delaying stomach emptying.?
• GLP-1 RAs carry a black box warning, the FDA's most serious caution, due to the risk of Thyroid C-cell tumours. While animal studies have shown an increased risk of developing Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (MTC) with GLP-1 RAs, this has not been conclusively demonstrated in humans.?
• Moreover, these medications can be costly, and any weight loss achieved with them may not be maintained once the treatment is discontinued.?

Additionally, obesity has predominantly been viewed through the lens of body mass index (BMI) in the past. However, research is increasingly showing that waist-to-height ratio is a more accurate predictor of obesity and its associated health risks. A recent study led by the University of Glasgow, published in the European Heart Journal, yielded the following intriguing results:

• People with higher levels of body fat, as indicated by their waist-to-height ratio, were at a higher risk of death or hospitalisation for heart failure.
• Those in the top 20% with the most body fat had a 39% higher risk of being hospitalised for heart failure compared to those in the bottom 20% with the least body fat.?

Findings like these highlight the importance of considering the waist-to-height ratio to measure overall health and risk for heart-related issues.

Longevity Homework

I’ve written about different aspects of obesity prevention and management in some of my previous newsletters. Most notably, below is what can help you get started on your journey:

1. Incorporating carbohydrate control. Learn more about how you should do it here.?

2. Decoding carbohydrate control from the perspective of calorie restriction. Understand the details of the best ways to incorporate it into your routine here.

3. ‘Magic drugs’ that could help aid weight loss in case your BMI is over 30 and other weight loss efforts have not been successful. Learn more here.

4. Practise intuitive eating to aid your journey. Learn more here.

P.S. If you’d like my support in your longevity journey, schedule a consultation call here: here

Sources:

1. https://www.who.int/news/item/04-03-2022-world-obesity-day-2022-accelerating-action-to-stop-obesity?
2. https://time.com/6264865/global-obesity-rates-increasing/?
3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772368223000689?via%3Dihub?
4. https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/NFHS-5_Phase-II_0.pdf?
5. https://www.livemint.com/news/world/over-half-of-world-population-to-go-obese-in-12-years-women-in-india-to-get-overweight-at-highest-rate-11677829443288.html?
6. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health/obesity-and-sleep#references-78315?
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9911531/#abstract-a.h.b.ptitle?
8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2879173/?
9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19273752/?
10. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25790401/?
11. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28150485/?
12. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23836042/?
13. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318726604_Obesity_and_Stigmatization_at_Work?
14. https://www.worldobesityday.org/assets/downloads/English_ROO_%282%29.pdf?
15. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-024-00978-0?
16. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35217468/?
17. https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_928522_en.html?