Today, obesity cannot be considered a simple lifestyle issue; it is a disease with major public health and economic consequences that requires serious attention by all stakeholders. Each individual has different causes and risk factors that lead to obesity and its associated complications. In addition to preventing becoming overweight, focusing on identifying the causes of obesity and then individualizing care and treatment plans to targeting weight loss, particularly intra-abdominal fat, could potentially generate huge cost savings. Excess intra-abdominal fat (visceral adiposity) is linked to excess morbidity and mortality, and positively correlates with the risks of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, and premature death. Therefore, overweight and obese patients should be offered healthy lifestyle changes including education about causes leading to excess weight, weight-reducing diets, physical activity regimens, and monitoring for progress. Medications and bariatric surgery are effective but are the last options and should be complementary to lifestyle and behavioral changes. The treatment of adiposity can be divided into two main areas. The adiposity itself and its accompanying diseases. Treating the accompanying diseases mostly is possible with conservative means (weight reduction, drugs, exercise programs). Before adiposity can be treated often there is a long search for the cause beforehand. Because morbid overweight is a chronic disease that can have various causes. It cannot be healed with one single measure but needs lifelong attendance in most cases.
Last date updated on September, 2024
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