“We will never tire of reiterating that extra pounds must be considered a real disease, as well as an important risk factor for many other pathologies, from cardio-metabolic ones to tumors, to osteo-articular ones. Enhancing body positivity and condemning body shaming is sacrosanct, if it means support for inclusiveness and war on discrimination of the ‘different’, of the non-aligned with mainstream aesthetic canons. But for no reason should we get the message across that obesity should be considered as a ‘normal’ condition, even an alternative to excessive thinness. or at normal weight “. This is the warning from Massimo Volpe, president of the Italian Society of Cardiovascular Prevention (Siprec), which met in congress in Naples, where he discussed the document published this year on the theme ‘Obesity: from risk amplifier to disease chronic ‘.
Experts point the finger at “clever marketing campaigns that leverage the trend topic of body positivity, however, reinterpreting it in a confusing way with respect to the messages of prevention “. The fight against stigma should not be misunderstood, because” obesity is a chronic disease – insists Volpe – a disease in itself that strengthens and brings with it a series of other factors of risk, from hypertension, to dyslipidemias, to diabetes, actively contributing to open the way to many other diseases “. This is why” obesity and overweight must be addressed and treated already in children and adolescents, without losing time – warns the specialist – We must enter the order of ideas that not only obesity, but also being overweight is bad. So woe to get the message across that a few extra pounds is acceptable. Least of all think that obesity is a ‘normal’ condition “.
“We therefore invite mothers – is President Siprec’s appeal – not to think that a slightly overweight child is bursting with health, while the skinny one is fragile and predisposed to disease. It is like thinking that having a little pressure high cholesterol or a little cholesterol is good for you. On the contrary, we must fight these conditions firmly, intervening on the lifestyle with a personalized diet, if necessary also resorting to psychological support and using all the therapeutic means available today: from new drugs such as Glp-1 agonists, to bariatric surgery, increasingly minimally invasive “.
Volpe reflects on the responsibilities of health professionals. “Unfortunately – he observes – very often it is the doctors and cardiologists themselves who do not face the problem. Also in this case, teamwork is essential, working together with a series of professionals. But above all we want to reiterate once again that obesity is a chronic disease. So it is good to continue fighting body shaming, that is, marginalization or, worse, making fun of the obese subject, but without falling into the trap of this drift of the concept of body positivity, suggested by some advertisements and social media “.
The Global Burden of Disease (Gbd) Obesity Collaborations – Siprec recalls – in 2017 estimated that the world population of obese adults has now exceeded 600 million, with a sensational doubling of prevalence in 35 years, from 1980 to 2015. Of the 4 millions of deaths associated with obesity each year, at least two thirds are due to cardiovascular disease. As evidence of “a dangerous relationship between obesity and cardiovascular diseases, especially heart attacks – the experts highlight – which is expressed through the amplification of a series of traditional risk factors (hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, type 2 diabetes), but also of pathological conditions that make an important contribution to the determinism of strokes and heart attacks, such as metabolic syndrome, obstructive sleep apnea, endothelial dysfunction, chronic inflammation, hyperuricemia, glucose intolerance and insulin resistance “. Finally, “people with more marked obesity are at greater risk of developing atrial fibrillation, heart failure, microvascular angina, resistant arterial hypertension and pulmonary thromboembolism”.
In Italy, according to data from the Higher Institute of Health – the cardiologists still point out – one in 10 adults is obese and three out of 10 are overweight. The regions where the greatest overweight is recorded are Puglia and Campania; those with the highest number of obese are Calabria and Campania. In 2019, overweight Italian children were 20.4% and obese children 9.4%. In the European Region of the World Health Organization, Italy is in first place for obesity and overweight in the age group 5-9 years.
“The role of obesity as an independent cardiovascular risk factor should therefore not be underestimated and classified as a ‘minor’ risk factor – recommends Volpe – because on the contrary, weight is an absolute protagonist of our state of health or disease. therefore made the European Commission, in March 2021, to recognize obesity as a chronic relapsing disease, which in turn acts as a gateway for a range of other non-communicable diseases “.