This is the calculated warning of a health professional working at the International Medical Center (IMC), and speaking at the healthcare exhibition held recently in Jeddah at the Al-Harthi International Exhibition Center. The four-day exhibition, “Paradigm shift in Healthcare,” was inaugurated on May 18 by Prince Misha'l Bin Majed, the Governor of Jeddah, under the patronage of Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, and jointly organized by the Jeddah Center for Forums and Events, IMC and Al-Harthi Company for Exhibitions Ltd. The exhibition also arranged a number of medical symposiums on the most important health problems that Saudi society is currently suffering from and highlighted the growing occurrence of obesity and its dangers in particular. Obesity is often used as a term to define anyone who is the slightest bit overweight. This is not accurate as obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy. Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide, with increasing prevalence in adults and children, and health authorities around the world view it as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century. A growing pandemic “More than three million Saudis are at risk of obesity and the various diseases resulting from it, such as ischemic stroke, coronary artery and heart disease, muscle fatigue due to the rise in blood pressure, high blood fats (hyperlipidemia) and cholesterol in the blood, diabetes and immunity to insulin, lower back pain, and the erosion of cartilage,” explained Dr. Waleed Lutfi Bukhari, Head of the Center for obesity surgery at the International Medical Center. The three types of obesity: primary pathological, morbidity medium and high morbidity are indicative of the different levels of obesity in terms of severity, where the latter is observed when a patient weighs 50% more than their ideal weight. The figures are alarming. According to Bukhari, 29 percent of all Saudi children are at risk of obesity. “Not only children, but also women where the percentage of those who are suffering of obesity is between 50 to 59 percent,” he added. He mirrors the opinion of many health professionals working in this field, that processed food and snacks in particular, are the root of the problem. Snacking without limits is causing people to eat over a certain limit, and therefore take in far more calories than they should. “The normal amount of calories that should be taken in is up to 1200 calories daily, and any permanent increase in the rate will make the person overweight and at the risk of obesity,” he stressed. It's time to take action So what measures can be taken to combat such widespread obesity? “One of the most important ways to control obesity is to reduce the amount of food taken inside the body, through the safe use of medicines,” said Bukhari, commenting on the personal steps one can take. “There are many drugs that work within the digestive system and prevent absorption of up to one third of the amount of fat that one is ingesting.” “People who are already suffering from obesity are also required to undergo rigorous exercise periodically, at least three times a week,“ he added. Bukhari sternly rules out the effectiveness of the ‘diet culture' where people pursue rigorous diet regimes that involve little or no exercise and intense consumption of only selected groups of food. These ‘diets' are often too severe and ineffective in controlling weight loss, exacerbated by the fact that they are not a sustainable option and discontinuity sees the patient revert to their old eating habits. Bukhari also remarked that the growing ‘health club' culture in Jeddah, particularly, is both raising awareness of the importance and necessity of sports and exercise, as well as reducing the rate of obesity in the Kingdom. With the recent case of the 10-year-old Jordanian girl - who arrived in the Kingdom weighing 145kg and lost 32kg in a month at King Khaled University Hospital - people need to be made aware of both the dangers of obesity and the necessity of confronting it sensibly. – SGObesity facts Obesity resulting from a sedentary lifestyle is seen by experts as a threat to human health and well-being. The following are facts about obesity in the United States and around the world. * Body Mass Index, or BMI, is an indicator of body fatness calculated from a person's weight and height. An adult with a BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 is considered overweight. An adult with a BMI of 30 or above is considered obese. A BMI over 40 is defined as morbidly obese. * Obesity has increased dramatically over the past two decades. * Obesity-related diseases include coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon), hypertension, dyslipidemia, stroke, liver disease, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, respiratory problems, osteoarthritis and gynecological problems, including infertility. * Obesity is associated with more than 100,000 deaths each year in the United States. * Approximately 1.6 billion adults are overweight globally, according to the World Health Organization. * Once considered a problem only in high-income countries, obesity is rising in low and middle income countries, particularly in urban areas. * At least 20 million children under 5 are obese globally.
