Overweight and obesity have become a worldwide epidemic. Statistics demonstrate that overweight has a high rate not only in industrialized countries, but also all over where problems of malnutrition go hand in hand with high incidence of obesity.
Population at large is aware that overweight is damaging health in many ways. Overweight produces important alterations in health, especially those of a cardiovascular type such as high arterial pressure, ischemia and cardiopathy. Obese condition emphasizes metabolic problems such as diabetes type 2 and significant changes in blood fat. Overweight may cause alterations in the joints, apnea during sleep, and so on. It is also involved in hepatic function alteration as a consequence of fat infiltration and may result in hepatic cirrhosis.
A big social concern is that overweight and obesity are often associated with certain cancers. Statistics confirm that obese female members of families with breast cancer background are more likely to contract the disease. Many reports also concluded that obesity and overweight are close related to cancers of the kidney, colon, esophagus and endometrium.
Specialists have long suspected that fat cells produce a special type of hormone that help turn normal cells cancerous once it is released into the blood. Despite of fact nobody has been able to check yet, the general accepted hypothesis is that high blood estrogen level is the mechanism that support the cancerous effect of obesity.
Valerian D is a freelance writer specialized in health issues affecting men and women as well such as cancer and obesity
