What are the consequences of overweight and obesity?

There is a number of health, social and psychological consequences associated with overweight and obesity.

Associated health consequences include:

• Cardiovascular / heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes / insulin resistance
• High blood pressure / hypertension
• High blood cholesterol
• Gallbladder disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Gout
• Certain types of cancer (breast, endometrial, cervical, colon, prostate, etc.)
• Reproductive hormone abnormalities
• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• Impaired fertility
• Breathlessness
• Sleep apnoea
• Low back pain (due to obesity)
• Premature death.

Generally, the more overweight you are, the more likely you are to have health problems related to the excess weight. Excess fat in the abdominal region (the ‘apple’ body) is of particular concern as it is associated with greater risks to health than is fat distributed around the body (the ‘pear’ body).

Psychosocial consequences include:

• Social bias
• Discrimination
• Low self-esteem
• Body shape dissatisfaction
• Eating disorders, e.g. binge-eating disorder
• Isolation
• Depression.

Therefore, preventing weight gain is important not only for health and wellbeing, but also for preventing the development of overweight and obesity and therefore the development of associated health and psychosocial problems and diseases.