Nowadays, obesity has become the new world syndrome as millions of people are getting affected by it. Obesity and overweight are more or less similar and may destroy health in many ways. It may create many diseases in the body and some of these diseases may last for lifetime. The main reason for the development of obesity is the change in lifestyle in our modern times. There is penetration of PC or computer in every field and more people are getting addicted to it. People use them in many other ways other than professional uses.

For example, people are very much into online gaming nowadays as many online gaming websites have come into the market. Earlier, people used to go to the land based casinos more. But with the advent of the Smartphone and PC, people prefer to stay indoors and play the online casino games or do gambling. But while doing so, you must be careful as all the gaming websites are not so genuine and you may lose money at the end of the day. So, you need to choose a perfect gaming website like online-betting.ph where one can play safe and get a good return on their investment.

Research statistics has shown that obesity is increasing among men by 12 to 20% and from 16 to 25% in women over the last ten years. The study has also shown that about 20% of the European population are obese are nowadays and surprisingly, it is the cause of death to around 300,000 premature death every year. People who have obesity have a general tendency of suffering from a high rate of mortality and morbidity. Hence they have a high death risk than people who have ideal body weight than the obese people. Doctors suggest that even slight reduction in the initial body weight may lead to huge improvement in the morbidity conditions.

Many people used to refer obesity as a choice of lifestyle disease, choice to eat more or do less exercise. But now modern day doctors are saying that it is more or less a chronic disease and effective strategies are very much needed for its management and control. Experts define obesity as an imbalance between calories taken in and calories spent so that more fat is accumulated in the body leading to overweight and obesity. Body Mass Index or BMI is the ideal measurement of overweight of any person and it states that the body weight must be related to the height of a person.

It has also been observed that for a given weight and height, accumulation of fat is 10% higher in women than in men. In case of women, the extra fat is mainly distributed in the peripheral areas like breasts, buttocks and thighs and hence become more visible than men. The strange fact is that in case of men, the extra fat is accumulated in the abdominal area and it is shown in the form of a tummy around the abdomen of the person.

Causes of obesity

Genetic considerations

Although obesity can be caused due to genetic reason but it is not necessarily a genetic disorder. Some people have an underlying genetic tendency to obesity which is aggravated due to environmental factors. Scientists have discovered 'ob' gene, which was mapped to chromosome 7. This gene has been linked to the patho-biological reason of genetic predisposition in obesity. The 'ob' gene is the main factor behind the coding of a hormone called leptin. If any mutation of 'ob' gene takes place, it can lead to improper coding of leptin, which further causes obesity. So far, researchers have found 200 genes, gene markers and chromosomal regions which are associated with human obesity.

Neurobiology

Two neurotransmitters named neuropeptide Y (NPY) and serotonin (5-HT) play a significant role in body weight control. NPY is a 36 amino acid peptide, which is found mainly in the hypothalamus region. This plays a crucial rolein regulating appetite. Increased NPY activity is found in the hypothalamus region of obese rodents. NPY causes higher food in-take when it interacts with a unique Y5 subtype of NPY receptor. Therefore Y5 receptor antagonists could be helpful in treating obesity.

The inhibitory influences of 5-HT on food consumption have been restricted to the hypothalamic para ventricular nucleus (PVN), the region at which NPY is most active in managing feeding behavior. 5-HT influenced reduction in food consumption is moderated by post-synaptic 5-HT_IB receptors. The hypophagic actions of 5-HT may be mediated at least to some degree through the NPY pathway. For example, 5-HT antagonist impacts feeding highers NPY production in the arcuate and para ventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus area. In the same manner, a 5-HT agonist, which lowers food intake to a great extent, decreases NPY concentrations in the hypothalamic para ventricular nucleus. Corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) which also causes weight loss by lowering appetite and functions in opposing to NPY to control energy balances. Similarly Cholecystokinin (CCK), which is a neurotransmitter present in the brain has a physiological role by sending as a meal termination or satiety signal between the two receptors known as CCK_A and CCK_B. Hence these receptors could also be useful in the treatment of obesity.

Environmental factors

These factors have high impact in the development of obesity by triggering genetic or metabolic susceptibilities. Environmental factors influences the increase in energy intake or a decrease in energy burn out with little physical activity and therefore the chance of getting obese also increases. People with highly sedentary lifestyle, long hours of television watching, owning a car also leads to the risk of obesity. If there is a tendency for over eating, or eating disorders where someone intakes too much high carbohydrate diet he can be under the risk of obesity. Smoking and alcohol addiction lowers body weight and results in higher BMI respectively.

Psycho-social impact

Various individual habits may place someone at higher risk of obesity. Restrained eating also plays a role in causing obesity. Restrained eaters often end up in higher food cravings and binge eating. When someone is on a strict diet, he or she often susceptible to the availability of junk foods and it attracts them to consume excess food.