Obesity and Disease: Insulin Resistance, Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Dixon

2009

Obesity Reviews

There is a link between obesity and chronic disease. However, the causal relationship is complicated. Some forms of obesity are associated with low-level systemic inflammation, which is linked to disease. But lifestyle behaviours that may not necessarily cause obesity (poor diet, inadequate sleep, smoking, etc.) can independently cause inflammation and consequent disease. It is proposed here that it is the environment driving modern lifestyles, which is the true cause of much chronic disease, rather than obesity per se, and that obesity may be a marker of environmental derangement, rather than the primary cause of the problem. Attempts to clinically manage obesity alone on a large scale are therefore unlikely to be successful at the population level without significant lifestyle or environmental change. Environmental factors influencing obesity and health have now also been implicated in ecological perturbations such as climate change, through the shift to positive energy balance in humans caused by the exponential use of fossil fuels in such areas as transport, and consequent rises in carbon emissions into the atmosphere. It is proposed therefore that a more policy-based approach to dealing with obesity, which attacks the common causes of both biological and ecological 'dis-ease', could have positive effects on both chronic disease and environmental problems. A plea is thus made for a greater health input into discussions on environmental regulation for chronic disease control, as well as climate change.

Section: Inflammatory Stimulants ('Inducers')mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Should obesity be the main game? Or do we need an environmental makeover to combat the inflammatory and chronic disease epidemics?

Dixon

2009

Obesity Reviews

“…Obesity and climate change are both current issues of world concern. Around 15% of the world's population are currently overweight or obese (5), leading to a big rise in metabolic diseases associated with this, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancers and other metabolic disorders (14).…”

Section: Obesity Climate Change and ‘Inflammation’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dousing our inflammatory environment(s): is personal carbon trading an option for reducing obesity – and climate change?

2008

Obesity Reviews

Obesity and climate change are two problems currently challenging humanity. Although apparently unrelated, an epidemiological approach to both shows a similar environmental aetiology, based in modern human lifestyles and their driving economic forces. One way of analysing this is through inflammation (defined as '. . . a disturbance of function following insult or injury') of both the internal (biological) and external (ecological) environments. Chronic, low-grade, systemic inflammation has recently been shown to accompany obesity, as well as a range of biological pathologies associated with obesity (diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, etc.). This is influenced by the body's inability to soak up excess glucose as a result of insulin resistance. In a broader sense, inflammation is a metaphor for ecological 'pathologies', manifest particularly in unnatural disturbances like climate change, ocean acidity, rising temperatures and species extinction, associated with the inability of the world's environmental 'sinks' to soak up carbon dioxide ('carbon resistance'?). The use of such a metaphorical analysis opens the possibilities for dealing with two interdisciplinary problems simultaneously. Strategies for managing climate change, including personal carbon trading, could provide a 'stealth intervention' for reducing population levels of obesity by increasing personal energy expenditure and decreasing energy-dense food intake, as well as reducing the carbon emissions causing climate change.

“…Obesity is currently pandemic, as are many of the chronic diseases often associated with this (e.g., type 2 diabetes) [ 1 ]. However, attributing the rise in chronic diseases to obesity does little to explain the true aetiology of the problem—the “cause of the causes” [ 2 ], which lies in more distal determining factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Obesity, Chronic Disease, and Economic Growth: A Case for “Big Picture” Prevention

Advances in Preventive Medicine

2011

The discovery of a form of chronic, low-grade systemic inflammation (“metaflammation”) linked with obesity, but also associated with several lifestyle-related behaviours not necessarily causing obesity, suggests a re-consideration of obesity as a direct cause of chronic disease and a search for the main drivers—or cause of causes. Factors contributing to this are considered here within an environmental context, leading to the conclusion that humans have an immune reaction to aspects of the modern techno-industrial environment, to which they have not fully adapted. It is suggested that economic growth—beyond a point—leads to increases in chronic diseases and climate change and that obesity is a signal of these problems. This is supported by data from Sweden over 200 years, as well as “natural” experiments in disrupted economies like Cuba and Nauru, which have shown a positive health effect with economic downturns. The effect is reflected both in human health and environmental problems such as climate change, thus pointing to the need for greater cross-disciplinary communication and a concept shift in thinking on prevention if economic growth is to continue to benefit human health and well-being.