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5 MINUTE GUIDE: DIETS
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Obesity and ill-health
Body Mass Index (BMI) – your weight divided by your height squared – is often used as a measure of whether you are under- or overweight. If your BMI is between 25 and 29.9, you are overweight; over 30 and you're obese.Obesity is linked to a range of health problems, including high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, depression, and Type 2 (adult onset) diabetes.
But BMI only gives a very general idea of whether you are at risk, while other factors are more clearly associated with ill-health. For instance, whether or not they are fat, people with large waists are more likely to suffer from heart disease as well as Type 2 diabetes. This arises when the body's cells become less sensitive to insulin and the pancreas releases insufficient insulin, causing a rise of glucose in the bloodstream. In the short term this causes tiredness and dizziness; eventually it can cause kidney damage, eye problems and nerve damage.
The link between obesity and diabetes is well known but the mechanism is not completely understood. It seems, though, that fatty tissue is more than just a way of the body storing energy, as was once thought. Now experts think it releases hormones into the body, which disrupt the body's response to insulin.
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