The Bhoraskars' Web
|
In simple terms, obesity is being more than one-fifth overweight as compared to the normal weight range
Obesity can be defined as excessive enlargement of body's total quantity of fat. There is no biological reason for men and women to get fatter as they grow older. Therefore the standard for overfatness for adult men and women should probably be established as men above 20% and women above 30% body fat. The location of adipose (fatty) tissue in the body should also be considered, fat distributed in the abdominal region poses a greater health risk compared to fat deposited at the thigh and buttocks. Before adulthood, body fat increases in two ways 1. By enlargement of individual fat cells, termed fat cell hypertrophy, 2. By increase in the total number of fat cells, termed hyperplasia. Fat cells probably reach some biologic upper limit in number by adulthood, then cell size becomes they key factor determining the extent of obesity. Therefore it is important to understand that the number of fat cells becomes stable sometime before adulthood; weight gain or loss thereafter is usually related to a change in the size of the individual cells. An average person has 25 - 40 billion fat cells while an obese may have 60 - 300 billion! Once the fat cell number size is increased, we cannot get rid of a single one. Only the size of each cell can be altered. When an obese person reduces body size, there is a decrease in fat cell size but no change in fat cell number. |
| Categories of Obesity on basis of severity | |
| % above ideal weight | Categories |
| 10-20 20-30 30-50 50-100 100% + |
Overweight Mild Obesity Moderate Obesity Severe Obesity Morboid Obesity |