Obesity is not always caused by eating too much

Medical Video: Why We Eat Too Much

Photo source: Livestrong

"Yup, you really suck, really!"

When you go to school, you may have heard or even delivered such words from / to your friends. All people with large bodies are said to be obese. But it turns out, obesity is not as easy as just labeling people with excess weight. And it turns out, many factors can cause a person to become obese, not because they eat too much or are lazy to exercise.

What is obesity?

More than a quarter of adults in the United States have obesity problems (Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson, Loftus & Wagenaar, 2009). Not only the United States, Indonesia is a country that is included in the top 10 with the highest rates of obesity in the world, according to the Lancet medical journal in 2014.

Obesity is the excess fat in the body, which is generally deposited in subcutaneous tissue (under the skin), around the organs, and sometimes expansion into the tissues of the organs (Misnadierly, 2007)). In addition, obesity is also a condition that shows the discrepancy between height and weight due to fat tissue in the body, there is excess weight due to fat tissue in the body so that overweight occurs which exceeds the ideal size (Sumanto, 2009). In short, obesity is the excess fat in the body which can make the body overweight. But, not all excess fat can be used as an indication that a person has obesity. A person can be said to be obese if he weighs more than 30% or more of his ideal body weight (Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson, Loftus & Wagenaar, 2009).

Obesity not only contributes to diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, but also provides a negative stigma that obese people are usually people who are weak and do not have a passion for life (Crandall, 1994; Crocker, Cornwell, & Major, 1991). This is actually not entirely true, because there are many factors that cause obesity. Just as when someone is asked how to go to Paris, the choice of method (whether boarding a plane, or bus, or train) depends on where the person is domiciled (Offir, 1982).

Obesity can occur due to genetic factors

Apparently, obesity can be reduced in the family. The genes handed down by this parent have a relationship with obese children. If none of the parents is obese, there is a 10% chance that the child will become obese. If one parent is obese, there is a 40% chance that the child will become obese. And, if both parents are obese, then the chances of children becoming obese increase to 70% (Gurney, 1936).

Genetic factors that make obesity are strengthened by one study involving twins; because twins have the same gene. Twins are collected in one dormitory, one of them is given more than 1,000 calories of food compared to their siblings. The result, in twins who are given 1000 calories more intake, their weight is not much different from their siblings. Even if it rises, this body weight from more eating groups "enlarges" its body in the same part as its siblings (Bouchard, Lykken, McGue, Segal, & Tellegen, 1990). There is also research conducted on twins who were raised separately; but the results also show more or less the same (Stunkard et al., 1990). Obviously this proves that genetic factors do affect children to become obese.

There are also fat cell (free translation: fat cell) which is a factor that can cause obesity. Fat cell is a place to store fat in the body. An adult human has around 30-40 million fat cell in his body. In the research conducted about fat cell, obese people have a number fat cell three times more than normal adults (Knittle & Hirsch, 1968). In studies conducted on mice, obese mice were rats that had fat cell twice as much as his cage. Moment fat cell from the rat's body was released to the same amount as his cage, the rat's weight dropped to half of his initial body weight and was now as big as his cage's friend (Faust, 1984; Hirsch & Batchelor, 1976).

Obesity can also occur because of a wrong diet

The usual diet for ordinary people is to reduce food intake. Actually this is the wrong thing. With reduced eating, many things can happen, from slowing metabolism, and "revenge" or binge eating.

The decrease in metabolism caused by the wrong diet is a big problem for people who suffer from obesity to lose weight. Decreasing metabolism can actually make the body fatter; because a decrease in metabolism means slowing down the burning of energy previously consumed from food. In addition, by making people who are obese hold their hunger, this can causebinge eating, or overeating when meeting food. In mice that were left to starve in four days, when the mice were given food, the rat's body weight returned quickly because the intake they ate became a case of "revenge" (Coscina & Dixon, 1983).

Using diet medications that don't continue can also increase body weight. Using diet drugs such as fenfluramine (now no longer sold freely because it is related to heart disease) can actually improve set point inside the body. Set point is a point that must be fulfilled when the body condition is unstable.

For example, Anita has a body temperature set point of 20 degrees Celsius. When less than that, Anita's body will experience cold, and when more than that, Anita's body will experience heat. On set point higher, the condition when the body should feel full will be higher than before. This causes what should be one plate of rice with vegetable chicken soup can be full, after taking diet drugs and stopping, rice with vegetable chicken soup plus fried mushrooms and new grilled chicken can make the person more full. This is very problematic because there is a calorie intake that should not need to be added for consumption.

Don't get worse in obese people

After reading this article, have you started to open your mind that it turns out obesity is not caused only because of lazy exercise and eating a lot? There are various kinds of factors that make obesity complex. Prof. Ali Mokdad from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) once said that no country has succeeded in fighting obesity, because obesity is a new problem. There is an increase of 875 million people who are obese in 30 years ago.

This is the time for you to open yourself up with open arms to fight obesity and help your friends and loved ones actively fight obesity. You have no extra time to tease or feel ashamed of yourself when you are obese or have obese friends. Everything starts with you for a healthier life.

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