What is the cause of obesity?
The Cause of
Obesity
Q. What is the cause of obesity?
A. There are several
causes.
The most common cause is
over eating or eating an excess of fats. An excessive
intake of starchy foods also tends to produce an
excessive accumulation of flesh. The same is true of sugar.
Candy eating is undoubtedly a frequent
cause of excessive fat accumulation. Food is
fuel; fat is unused fuel.
About one-fourth of the food we eat is consumed in
muscle work, the remaining three fourths is mostly used in maintaining the
heat of the body. It is evident then, that the amount of food consumed should
be regulated by the temperature and amount of work done. A person lying
quietly in a warm bed requires less than half the amount of food which is
needed by a person exposed to cold and engaged in active exercise. A man
working very hard out doors in very cold weather might in fact utilize fully
three times as much food as a person lying still in bed or sitting quietly in
a warm room. It is evident then, that the amount of intake should be carefully
regulated to the output in heat and work. Obese people are generally persons
who have a good appetite and good digestion and on this account are likely to
eat more than the body requires to maintain the normal body temperature of one
hundred degrees and the necessary output of energy. When a person finds himself
gaining in weight this fact is usually evidence that his intake of food fuel is
greater than the consumption. This excess of intake will be deposited as
reserve tissue or fat. It should be borne in mind also that it is not so much
the quantity of food eaten, but the character of the food. One may for example,
eat very liberally of such food stuffs as juicy fruits, lettuce, celery,
turnips, greens and other fresh vegetables without accumulating flesh. Indeed,
on such a diet one may easily loose flesh, whereas if one eats freely of such
concentrated foodstuffs as bread, cereals, sugar and fats one may easily eat
an excess even though the quantity eaten has not been at any time sufficient
to produce a sensation of fullness in the stomach. It is for this reason that
starchy foods and fats are said to be fattening, whereas it would be quite
impossible for a person to become over-fat on a diet of fruits and vegetables,
the Irish potato and sweet potato being excepted.
In recent years another form of obesity has been
recognized which can scarcely be said to be due to over eating. This form of
the disease has been shown to be due to a disturbance of the internal
secretions. Persons who suffer from this form of obesity are often pale. They
may be small eaters. The difficulty appears to be that the food is not
utilized; that is, the food fuel is not burned as efficiently as it should be.
The individual is like a furnace that has insufficient draft. The fuel not
being properly burned accumulates and the furnace is choked.
This form of
obesity is due to a disturbance of the
pituitary gland. It is usually characterized by an uneven distribution of fat.
The back of the neck, the hips, the abdomen and, in women, the mammary glands,
are the most common seats of fat accumulation.
When this form of obesity occurs in early life there
is an arrest of sexual development.
The proper remedy for this form of obesity is the
extract of the pituitary gland. An up- to-date physician should be consulted.