The popular psychological interpretation of obesity is lack of self-esteem and overindulgence in fear and denial; layers of protection to insulate the dreamer from involvement or action; hopelessness and helplessness to express power and authority; fear that rejection will be the only reward for effort. Other possible meanings are the “fat cat” who ate the mouse, being “full of oneself,” or fattening up the livestock (for slaughter). (See also Fat).
the excess accumulation of fatty tissue in man that results from overeating combined with insufficient muscular activity. Obesity is a disease that results from the predominance of fat synthesis and storage over fat breakdown.
One of the principal mechanisms responsible for obesity is the disruption of the coordination between fat metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism. This disruption intensifies the conversion of carbohydrates to fats. A pathological metabolism or tendency toward abnormally large fat cells can be hereditarily transmitted. Overeating in general and the overconsumption of carbohydrate foods, such as dishes that contain flour and sugar, encourage the manifestation of a hereditary predisposition to obesity.
Obesity can also result from certain diseases of the central nervous system or from endocrine disorders—especially a failure in hypothalamic regulation. Metabolic disturbances, poor eating habits, and lack of exercise can also lead to obesity. Although the disease can occur at any age, it usually first appears in childhood. The greatly increased incidence of obesity in the 20th century is also related to scientific and technological progress, for example, automation and mechanization of many industrial and household processes with the corresponding decrease in muscular activity. According to the World Health Organization (1972), about 30 percent of the population of the economically developed countries is 20 percent or more over the normal weight. The average life expectancy of obese individuals is five to ten years below normal.
Obesity is manifested by a considerable increase in weight, owing to the accumulation of fat in the subcutaneous fatty tissue, omentum, mediastinum, pericardium, and renal capsule. It interferes with the functioning of the heart, alters the locomotor apparatus, and promotes early aging. Metabolic disturbances that result from obesity can lead to the development of atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus. Several degrees of obesity are distinguished: first-degree obesity involves a 29-percent weight increase above normal; second-degree, a 30- to 49-percent increase; third-degree, a 50- to 99-percent increase; and fourth-degree, a 100-percent or greater increase. Fat is sometimes deposited evenly, sometimes only in one part of the body; the latter, localized, form of obesity is called lipomatosis.
Obesity is treated with a properly balanced diet, a supervised health regimen, dietotherapy, physical therapy, and anorexigenics. In complicated forms of obesity, efforts are made to eliminate the underlying causes. Prevention of obesity must start in childhood with the establishment of such routines as a properly balanced diet and a healthy amount of physical activity.
IU. A. KNIAZEV