HAVING looked at body/fat shaming in my last article, I feel compelled to deal with the problem of obesity and its impact on health, particularly because this topic was addressed at considerable length at a recent medical conference.

The conference, which took place on April 26 at the University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, was a joint initiative by APC Community Services of New York, the University of Guyana and the Ministry of Health.

Under the broad theme, “Resetting Care Delivery for Wellness 2023 and Beyond”, health professionals from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States gave presentations on various areas of medicine. The feature address was delivered by Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, who spoke of Guyana’s ongoing health programmes and plans for the future.

Born in Linden, Guyana and currently CEO of the Community Hospital of Seventh Day Adventists in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Dr. Stephen Carryl, in his keynote address, drew attention to ‘Obesity and its impact on chronic medical conditions’.

Dr. Carryl, an internationally recognised and board-certified surgeon, said obesity is “a complex disease, not well understood”, which can trigger the likelihood of non-communicable diseases.

In particular, obesity is the primary factor in the two leading causes of death in Guyana – Type 2 diabetes and hypertensive heart disease. It is especially responsible for the rise in cardiovascular illnesses and worldwide has increased rapidly in the years during 1990 to 2003.

Looking at the measurement of obesity, defined as ‘abnormal or excessive fat accumulation’, Dr. Carryl referred to the Body Mass Index (BMI), which informs what a person’s weight should be in relation to their height.

He termed this “a useful but crude” means of measuring weight/height, which can be an important indicator of when an intervention is necessary.

“There is a higher risk of death the higher your BMI goes.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) says a BMI of over 25 is considered overweight and over 30 is considered obese. However, the US Mayo Clinic points out that BMI does not directly measure body fat, so muscular people may have a BMI in the obese category, though they do not have excess fat.

“It is a real problem at population level”, Dr. Carryl declared, noting that in Guyana 41% of the male population is obese and 56% of females. In addition, obesity/overweight is considered a key risk factor for many non-communicable diseases such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, certain cancers and type 2 diabetes.

The worldwide figures for obesity are even more alarming with the WHO stating that the condition has tripled since 1985, while 39% of adults 18 years or over were overweight in 2016 and 13% were obese.

Perhaps most telling is the fact that, according to WHO, “…most of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight”.

While acknowledging that the causes of obesity are many and varied – genetic, poor eating habits which may derive from childhood and mental health challenges among them – the WHO says that obesity is preventable.

“The fundamental cause of obesity is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended,” the organisation says. This has been in part due to an increase in the consumption of foods high in fat and sugars and a decrease in physical activity as people lead a more sedentary lifestyle – sitting behind the wheels of cars and at computers.

Worse still is the impact that obesity has on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), which another presenter at the conference, Dr. Daniel Beckles, said kills someone every few seconds. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, “One person dies every 34 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular diseases”.

According to Dr. Beckles, a cardiothoracic surgeon, CVDs – a general term for conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels – are the leading cause of deaths in Guyana. And the WHO says it is the leading cause of deaths worldwide, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year.

The primary solution according to both doctors, lies in a healthy lifestyle. This means reducing salt/sugar intake, eating more fresh fruit and vegetables and engaging in regular physical activity, as well as avoiding harmful alcohol use and smoking tobacco.

The Mayo Clinic advised that, “…even modest weight loss can improve or prevent the health problems associated with obesity”, adding that, “A healthy diet, increased physical activity and behavior changes can help you lose weight.”