A few decades ago, the major insurance companies began keeping records of various circumstances relating to clients. One of their principal discoveries was that overweight is associated with relatively high mortality. The greater a person’s weight the greater his risk of early death. Recent statistics show that men who weigh 10 to 19 percent more than their ideal weight have a mortality rate one third higher than men of ideal weight. For those who weigh 20 percent or more above their ideal weight, the mortality rate is half again as high.
Medical records on the principal causes of death among overweight people put diabetes at the head. In the same lists are diseases which affect the liver, kidneys, blood vessels, and heart. Being overweight throws a greater strain on the body’s vital organs, making them more susceptible to diseases that cause early death.
Medical experts say that the normal body contains a certain amount of fat in its tissues. But it is the excess that causes the trouble. This extra fat is deposited in certain parts of the body; for instance, just beneath the skin. A fat person has fewer wrinkles than a lean one. Excess fat is deposited also in the supporting tissues within the abdomen, in the loose tissue around the kidneys, and in the surface layer of the heart.
Towards this realization, medical experts would like us to understand the effects of being overweight to the body’s vital organs:
Heart and blood vessels:
The excess layer of fat on the surface of the heart acts as an overload, making the heart muscles perform more work than usual. The extra fat rides as a non-paying passenger.
Extra fat is living tissue, even though unnecessary. Therefore, it has to be supplied with blood like any other tissue. An increase in body fat requires a corresponding increase in the number of capillaries to supply this fat with blood. Some doctors have estimated that every pound of body fat calls for another two-thirds of a mile of new blood vessels. And the heart must pump blood through this extra system of vessels. This increases the heart’s work.
With extra fat and thus extra weight, the muscles must work harder to move the body about. Obviously, it takes more work to move a 200-pound man up a flight of stairs than to move a 150-pound man. This additional activity of the skeletal muscles also adds to the work load of the heart.
Lungs:
Overweight interferes with the function of the lungs and with the process of providing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide. In response, the blood-forming tissues build more red blood cells than are normally needed.
Liver:
The liver suffers also. Part of its task is to care for the chemical substances the body needs. The liver is particularly involved in the processing of fat before it is stored, and in the continuous work of conditioning the stores of fat once they have been deposited. When body weight becomes excessive, additional work is placed upon the liver.
Kidneys:
The kidneys are usually the last of the vital organs to show adverse effects from overweight. It stands to reason, however, that the more tissue the body contains, the greater the task of eliminating waste. Thus, it is not surprising that, when kidney disease develops, the overweight person is particularly handicapped.
Estimates of the number of overweight people in the United States vary from 15 million to 40 million.
When an overweight person dies, his death certificate does not give "overweight" as the cause. But the fact is that persons who weigh too much are more susceptible than others to life-destroying diseases. Thus, obesity could rightly be named as at least a contributing cause of death.