Obesity is a disease: A Consensus Report by the Alliance to Fight Obesity in Greece

Abstract

Obesity is defined as a chronic disease characterized by abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in the body. Obesity has taken on epidemic proportions, as the prevalence of overweight individuals globally is almost 30%. The causality of obesity is multifactorial; positive energy balance, genetic factors, endocrine diseases, medications, and food intake disorders are involved in the pathogenesis. Hippocrates wrote that “obesity is a disease itself and the harbinger of others”, recognizing that obesity is a disease that leads to many other diseases. Many scientific societies and the World Health Organization recognized obesity as a chronic disease. Obesity adversely affects many tissues and organs of the human body and is considered a multisystem disease. Obesity is closely related to increased mortality, development of type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, atherosclerotic and thrombotic events, malignancies, respiratory, renal, neurological, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal disorders, and it affects immune system and fertility. Obesity is related to high health costs and affects quality of life. Primary prevention is of major importance and may lead to significant savings on resources. Upon establishment, it should be treated as a severe disease, the management of which reduce mortality and may prevent the development of severe and life-threatening complications. As a disease, it should stop being so underestimated and take the important part that it should be occupying in the public health and, once its importance has been recognised, it should be given the opportunity of being correctly treated in a scientifically way for the benefit of the people with obesity and the healthcare system.