It is now more common to see someone who is overweight or obese rather than a healthy person. Our perception of what is “normal” changes. Overweight becomes normal, it is easy to think that only very obese people have a health problem.
Obesity, body
weight and cancer
Obesity is a major preventable cause of cancer. To back this up, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) states that it is the most important known avoidable
cause of cancer after tobacco.
Current levels of obesity in the UK could lead to around 19,000 cases of
cancer each year. This number is only going to increase in the future, since
more cancers are being linked to obesity and the numbers of overweight people
are increasing.
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What is type 2 diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can still
make some insulin, but not enough, or when the cells that need insulin do not
respond to it properly (known as insulin resistance).
Insulin allows the cells of the body to take
glucose from the blood stream to use for energy. If there is not enough insulin
to go around, or the cells are not responding to it properly, the glucose
cannot get to where it’s needed and it builds up in the blood. An overly high
level of glucose in the blood (hyperglycaemia) is damaging and causes the
symptoms of diabetes and long-term health problems.
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What is prediabetes?
Prediabetes occurs when glucose levels are higher than normal but not high
enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.
Like diabetes, prediabetes is a condition where the amount of glucose in the
blood is too high, because the body cannot use it properly. This is because the
pancreas in your body does not produce enough insulin, or the insulin that is
produced doesn’t work properly (known as insulin resistance). Insulin helps
glucose enter the body’s cells, where it is used for energy.
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High blood
pressure
High blood pressure (hypertension) (usually presents with no signs or symptoms, so
the only way to know if you have the condition is to have yours measured.
However, a single high reading does not necessarily mean you have high blood
pressure. Many things can affect your blood pressure through the day, so your
doctor will take a number of readings to see if it stays high over time.
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Cardiovascular
Disease
Cardiovascular
disease, also known as heart and circulatory disease, covers all diseases that
affect the heart and circulation. These include conditions such as coronary
heart disease (angina and heart attack) and stroke.
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Am I at risk of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes?
The risk factors for developing prediabetes are the same as for type 2
diabetes.
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Visceral
fat
Visceral fat
is different from other body fat. Also called intra-abdominal fat, visceral fat refers to fat surrounding the internal organs. Subcutaneous
fat, on the other hand, is body fat that
is close to the skin’s surface and is considered less dangerous, and easier to
lose, than visceral fat.
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