Article 21: Causes and Harms of Obesity in Middle-aged and Elderly People

With the improvement of people's living standards and changes in lifestyles, the number of obese middle-aged and elderly people is increasing, and their proportion is rising year by year. Medical experts point out that obesity has become an epidemic in modern life and one of the major risk factors affecting human health in the 21st century.

Among the various common diseases among middle-aged and elderly people, obesity is one of the most troubling problems. The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes is rapidly increasing among obese patients, severely impacting their quality of life.

People over middle age are prone to weight gain, which some call "getting fat," but it is not a blessing and is often a sign of aging.

The main reason why middle-aged and elderly people gain weight is that their body's energy consumption gradually decreases after middle age. Many of them maintain a good appetite and eat a lot, which leads to a situation where "income" exceeds "expenditure". The excess energy is converted into fat and stored in the body, resulting in obesity.

Women are more likely to become obese after reaching middle age, and the accumulation of subcutaneous fat is an important factor in forming the female body shape.

From puberty to adulthood, body shape gradually takes shape. After adulthood, metabolism within adipose tissue becomes more active, and the distribution of fat throughout the body also changes.

In addition, women's endocrine function declines and their metabolic rate decreases after menopause. Combined with improved living conditions and reduced physical activity, this can also easily lead to weight gain.

Generally speaking, adipose tissue in young people is distributed throughout the body, while in middle age and later, fat tends to accumulate in the trunk, especially the abdomen, resulting in "central obesity".

Obese individuals undergoing weight loss treatments typically experience fat reduction in their limbs, while subcutaneous fat in the abdomen is difficult to reduce. This may be related to endocrine, vascular, and neurological factors.

Obesity in middle-aged and elderly people not only brings inconvenience to daily life, but also induces or complicates many diseases. This is because when a person becomes obese, the surface of the heart is surrounded by a thick layer of fat, which weakens the heart muscle's contractile ability and gradually reduces its resistance to disease. Many diseases in middle-aged and elderly people (such as hypertension, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, cerebral arteriosclerosis, stroke, diabetes, and dyslipidemia) occur and develop after becoming obese.

Therefore, medical experts warn that obesity has become the "second leading cause of death" after smoking.

Obesity is a complex disease caused by the interaction of genetics and environment. From the physiological characteristics of middle-aged and elderly people, the causes of weight gain include: ① Poor dietary habits, especially excessive fat intake, and the sedentary lifestyle of this age group, leading to an imbalance between energy input and consumption, causing excessive fat accumulation under the skin and around internal organs, thus resulting in weight gain; ② Long-term overeating causes dysfunction in the hypothalamus of the cerebral cortex, leading to pathological obesity; ③ Due to functional disorders among subcortical tissues, the body's ability to excrete fat decreases, and fat cannot be used as energy, causing the fat layer to accumulate and form obesity; ④ Endocrine disorders can also cause obesity, but this accounts for a very small percentage.

Middle-aged and elderly people should persist in participating in physical exercise to improve the function of the cerebral cortex and enhance the body's ability to regulate fat metabolism, thereby eliminating excess fat.

Regular physical exercise can also increase lipase in the blood, accelerate the breakdown of cholesterol, and reduce the cholesterol content in the blood and its deposition on the blood vessel walls.

This not only helps control weight and reduce obesity, but also helps prevent and treat diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension caused by obesity in middle-aged and elderly people.

To establish scientific eating habits and lifestyle, one should eat in moderation, reducing the intake of fat, protein, sugar, and salt, and eating more foods rich in vitamin C, such as leafy green vegetables and fruits.

In addition, a high-fiber diet easily creates a feeling of fullness, which is beneficial for preventing and treating obesity. Eight hours of sleep is ideal; more is not advisable. Those who are excessively obese should seek medical treatment at a hospital for scientific and effective weight loss and disease prevention, and should never blindly trust advertisements and fall into misconceptions.

Obesity was originally a problem that only plagued industrialized countries, but with the economic improvement, urban population growth and changes in dietary habits in developing countries, obesity has also begun to spread globally.

In China, 12% of men and 16% of women are obese. In Malaysia, the obesity rate is 30%, and in the Philippines, it's 10%. In the United States, the obesity rate is 20%. In Mexico, the obesity rate is 23%.

Obesity is also a problem plaguing Middle Eastern countries. In Egypt, 35% of the population is obese. In Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, 16% of men and 24% of women are dangerously overweight. In Kuwait, one in three men is obese, and the rate is as high as 40% for women. In Africa, obesity is largely confined to urban areas.

According to Barry Popkin, a nutritionist at the University of North Carolina, the comforts of modern life have led to less physical labor, resulting in the accumulation of excess calories and increased obesity. Even nutritionists cannot explain why people crave fatty foods and sweets after their incomes improve.

To avoid this global modern epidemic, Larry Atkinson, president of the American Obesity Association, recommends reducing food intake, especially fat and sugar, and increasing physical activity. If immediate action to lose weight is not taken, millions will soon die from obesity-related chronic diseases such as diabetes.

American scientists predict that in 50 years, humans may become so obese and frail that they will stumble and fall after only a few steps. For example, in 1995, the average 7-year-old girl in the United States weighed 24 kilograms and was 120 centimeters tall. Now, the average height of a 7-year-old girl has only increased by 4.5 centimeters, but her weight has increased to 29 kilograms. If this rate of increase continues, by 2050, the weight of a 7-year-old girl will reach a frightening 54 kilograms.

The biggest problem is that when these fat and short children grow up, the average height of the males is only 157 cm, but their weight reaches a terrifying 319 kg, while the average height of the females is 143 cm and their weight reaches 311 kg.

Growing evidence suggests that reducing calorie intake is insufficient to prevent obesity. Maintaining a healthy weight requires regular daily exercise.

A sedentary lifestyle, such as spending long hours watching TV, playing computer games, and browsing the internet, is a major cause of obesity.

If Americans do not change their current lifestyle, the number of people who die from obesity-related diseases each year (currently 300,000) will sooner or later exceed the number of people who die from smoking-related diseases each year (400,000).

In addition to causing life-threatening diseases, being overweight increases the resistance to the heart's pumping action, leading to high blood pressure; at the same time, being overweight also increases the pressure on the joints, often resulting in lower back pain.