Obesity is a disorder when a person has an excessive amount of body fat. It is estimated one-third of adults in the U.S. is obese. Obesity can also lead to other unwanted health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
It sounds easy to fight obesity by having a healthy diet and exercise, but it might be more complicated than that.
Obesity can be labeled as a brain disease due to the changes in brain structures. Overnutrition will cause a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier. Another problem caused by overnutrition is the increase of inflammation in different brain structures. The hippocampus, which is important for memory, has seen lost in size due to a high-fat diet or obesity. The reduction in the size of the hippocampus will cause memory and cognitive defects.
The hypothalamus is another structure affected by overnutrition. The hypothalamus helps regulate body temperature, hunger, and sleep. The increase in inflammation within the brain will cause the hypothalamus to affect insulin resistance too. The change in structure due to obesity will impair insulin secretion. This will result in glucose building up, and lead to type 2 diabetes.
While obesity can be labeled as a brain disease, some might not consider it as so. People who are obese had a choice in their life to become obese. People with other brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease, didn’t choose to obtain a brain disease. The change in brain structure in obese patients can’t be denied, but the aspect of placing it in the categories with “true” brain diseases is still questionable for me.
Regardless, obesity is still a problem and needs to be tackled with steps to help patients improve their life. By figuring out the parts of the obese brain is a possibility in treating obesity.
Obesity: A rising problem?
