Because it predisposes people who suffer from it to contract diseases with disabling or fatal consequences, obesity should be considered as a form of premature aging, warn researchers, calling on public authorities to change their strategy.
Obesity is a real public health issue. In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults were overweight worldwide, according to the latest WHO figures. Among them, more than 650 million were obese. Obesity can lead to many complications such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis or cancer. So much so that most of the world’s population lives in countries where overweight and obesity cause more deaths than underweight. Because it predisposes those who have it to contract diseases with disabling or fatal consequences, obesity should be considered a form of premature aging, according to a new Canadian study published in the journal Obesity Reviews. The public authorities should therefore modify their strategy in relation to this affliction, they warn at the approach of the unified world day against obesity on wednesday march 4th.
Realizing that many obese children developed diseases specific to adults such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol levels, researchers at Concordia University (Canada) decided to focus on the aging caused by obesity. While many studies have already linked this disease to premature death, scientists have shown here that it accelerates aging even in the smallest parts of the body. To do this, they reviewed more than 200 studies on the effects of obesity on cells, organs and the whole body.
Studies have shown that obesity in mice leads to apoptosis (cell death process) in the heart, liver, kidneys, neurons, inner ear and even the retina. It would also prevent the maintenance of healthy cells, which promotes the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and even Alzheimer’s disease. On the genetic level, obesity would also lead to alterations specific to the aging process, such as the shortening of telomeres, the protective caps located at the end of the chromosomes. Indeed, in patients considered obese, the telomeres were sometimes 25% shorter than in others, the researchers observed.
“We ask questions that have never been asked before”
By damaging various immune cells, obesity also promotes cognitive decline, mobility, hypertension and stress, in the same way as aging. Another consequence of the weakening of the immune system: patients suffering from obesity are more vulnerable to illnesses such as the flu. Finally, obese patients would also be more likely to suffer from sarcophrenia, a disease associated with aging leading to a progressive loss of muscle mass and strength.
“We are trying to argue that obesity has the same effects as aging. Obesity- and aging-related comorbidities appear to develop through similar mechanismsexplains Professor Sylvia Santosa, who led the study. I hope that these observations will guide our approach to help us better understand obesity, and approach it differently. We ask questions that have never been asked before”she concludes.
In France, 17% of adults suffer from obesity
In France, 17% of the adult population suffers from obesity. Among children, 16% of boys and 18% of girls are affected. In the hope of reducing these figures, the government launched a fourth national health nutrition program (PNNS) in September. In December, the Court of Auditors praised the policy to fight against obesity in France.
“France is one of the few countries that have embarked (…) in an ambitious public nutritional health policy”, can we read in a report congratulating this “voluntary” policy. Voluntarist but “poorly coordinated”, worry however the magistrates. For more efficiency, they advise to go through “tighter regulation” of the food industry. “To improve the nutritional quality of food, the public authorities have (…) chose an incentive method based on the volunteering of the agri-food industries”. Gold, “the results obtained by this self-regulation are now showing their limits“, they believe, proposing in particular additional taxation of the least good products on the nutritional level, as has been done with tobacco.
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