Question

Obesity trends have been increasing rapidly over the last several decades.

Please List some of the health issues that obesity increases the risk for developing. While BMI is associated with fat, explain why can't we just use BMI to assess an individual's fat. Describe (don't just list) how we assess a healthful weight.

Answer 1

Obesity is risk factor for various diseases.obesity cause various health issues as mentioned below • obesity is risk for cardiovascular diseases like stroke, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure. • obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes. • obesity is risk factor for certain types of cancer like breast cancer. • obesity can cause musculoskeletal problems like osteoarthritis, osteoporosis etc.

BMI means BODY MASS INDEX. It is measured with help of height and weight of person . But it is not accurate way to assess individual's fat . It is not perfect way as it sometimes leads to confusion. Muscles weigh more than fat so obviously in athletes​ and muscular person BMI will be higher with low body fat. So BMI is not perfect way to assess fat.

Even though BMI is not accurate way to assess fat but still it is widely used and recommended to assess healthy weight.BMI is calculated by dividing person's weight in kg with square of height in metres. • If BMI is less than 18.5 person falls in underweight category. •If BMI is 18.5 to 24.9, person falls within the Healthy Weight category means person is healthy. •If BMI is 25.0 to 29.9, person falls within the overweight category. If BMI is 30.0 or higher, person falls within the obese category.

Waist circumference is another way to assess fat and weight. More waist circumference means more deposited fat around stomach. Excess belly fat can cause various health issues and prone to obesity. Man waist circumference more than 40 and non pregnant women waist circumference more than 35 are at risk of developing obesity and are not healthy.