Obesity

What is obesity?

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Obesity is the term used when a person has a chronic excess of body fat. You can tell if you are obese by calculating your Body Mass Index or BMI, which is the value given to the measure of body fat in relation to a person’s height and weight.

In Ireland today, it is estimated that 16% of women and 20% of men are obese. A further 33% of women and 46% of men are overweight and could be on their way to becoming obese. Worryingly, a recent study of Dublin school children concluded that Irish children have become significantly more overweight in the last 10 years.

This is not just a cosmetic problem, the World Health Organisation has called obesity an ‘epidemic’. It is a very serious problem with many complexities and can be attributed to at least 2500 deaths in Ireland each year. If your BMI is 26 or over, and know that it’s not due to excess muscle mass through weight training, you should be in regular contact with your GP. S/he will do a more accurate measurement of your body fat and will monitor your weight and work with you to lose body fat. If your BMI is 30 or over, you are already risking your health and will need to apply diligent effort to reduce your weight and body fat.

The main health issues that are affected by excess body fat and obesity in particular, are heart attack, stroke, Type II diabetes, insulin resistance, hypertension (high blood pressure), gout, gall stones, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and in some cases, cancer.

Emma Buckley B.Sc