Overweight and Obesity Are a Problem 

They are a big problem. Being overweight or obese puts you at risk for many diseases and poor health conditions.

Extra weight increases your risk for cancer.

Science has proven that extra weight increases your risk for cancer, makes cancer treatment and recovery difficult and raises your risk of heart disease.

Barry Popkin PhD, author of The World Is Fat, says that "Obesity is the most preventable cause of cancer," Researchers, at the University of Minnesota, found that losing weight may help decrease the risk of breast cancer.

According to Dr. Pamela T. Soliman of M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston "Heart attacks occur earlier in people who are overweight or obese, compared with normal-weight people" and Dr. Soliman says "people who weigh too much are more likely than normal-weight people to die from many cancers."

Dr. Eric Peterson, a professor of medicine at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, says that people who are overweight are more likely to have cardiac risk problems like diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

Too much weight is hard on your brain.

One study found that obese people with large bellies were a shocking 260% more likely to develop dementia. Study author Rachel Whitmer PhD. says "The biggest risk is the fat that hangs over your belt," most likely because of the hormones and inflammatory factors it produces.

Another study of more than 9,000 people across the country found a 25% increase in the risk of developing mood and anxiety disorders among those who were obese. "Obesity could contribute to depression by limiting physical activity and through the stigma associated with being overweight," says Gregory Simon, MD, MPH, lead author of the study and a psychiatrist at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle.

Your other organs don’t fare well with excess weight either.

Swedish researchers reported in 2006 that simply being overweight tripled the risk of chronic renal failure, a gradual, irreversible loss of kidney function. The researchers estimate that obesity causes 11% of chronic renal failure cases in women.

And, according to recent findings published by researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, being overweight increased the risk of gallbladder disease.

Blame fat if you can’t sleep at night.

Obesity is the most significant risk factor for sleep apnea. Extra body fat in the chest and neck can restrict air passages and even lung function, contributing to dozens of mini-arousals to help you catch your breath. Sleep apnea causes more than just fatigue: "It‟s also linked with heart disease," says Barry Popkin, PhD, an obesity researcher and author of The World Is Fat.

Fat can cost you money.

Overweight people tend to earn less than normal-weight people with comparable jobs. But more importantly, when they do suffer from the problems they are at greater risk for they are more likely to pay more for their health care.

According to Caleb Alexander, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, "The total spending on drugs for type 2 diabetes nearly doubled between 2001 and 2007." "Some patients can control diabetes with lifestyle changes alone," he says. "At the very least, weight loss through diet and exercise can often reduce the number of medications you need to take."