Many people are affected by obesity and in America 1/3 of the population is affected. Classifying Obesity as a disease has many sides and effects. In my opinion, Obesity isn’t a disease. The first thing to know is what qualifies as a disease. A disease is defined, by the American Medical Association, as “An impairment of the normal functioning of some aspect of the body; characteristic signs and symptoms; and causing harm or morbidity. Second to know is what Obesity is defined as “Having too much body fat” (National Library of Medicine) Based on these definitions obesity is not a disease.

Yes, obesity could be considered a disease. When a person is obese , they are at risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis, diabetes, and other related morbidities. Which does impair the body, show characteristic signs, and cause harm. The high blood pressure will cause the heart to have issues and the diabetes would create more fat to thus cause more harm. This all points to Obesity qualifying as disease.

A disease isn’t a disease if it caused by something else, it is a byproduct or side effect. The Obesity is not the disease itself; it is a side effect of other diseases or inactivity. The effect of having excess fat can be caused by diseases such as hypothyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome, and Prader-Willi Syndrome along with lots of others. With Hypothyroidism the imbalance of hormones caused by it increases the amount of fat the body produces. Cushing’s syndrome causes another weight gaining hormone imbalance, and Prader-Willi syndrome is a genetic condition that causes an “insatiable appetite” resulting in excess fat. These are all examples of Obesity being a side effect not a disease itself.

Things other than diseases can also cause obesity. Namely, lack of activity and not balancing the in and out of calories. Doing this doesn’t turn it into a disease. It’s a change of body and an increase in risk factor for the things that cause harm. The risk for heart diseases, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Diabetes increases but just because a person has excess fat doesn’t mean they instantly have morbidly high blood pressure. In fact, as many as one third of those who are obese aren’t affected by high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or have signs of diabetes.

Also the excess fat doesn’t cause the harm itself; it comes along as a byproduct of the activities that bring in a risk for other things that cause harm to the body. Such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes . High cholesterol doesn’t solely come from fat being on the body. It comes from excess fat being in a diet and the wrong cholesterols being in the diet. Excess cholesterol gets built up in the arteries, which leads to less blood getting to the brain and the heart not getting the oxygenated blood it needs. The effects of high cholesterol can treated through a healthy diet and exercise, which do both reduce excess fat on the body but that doesn’t make the fat the cause of the harm.The fat doesn’t cause high blood pressure, high blood pressure comes naturally with age and also form being inactive which weakens the musculature of the body. High blood pressure is having too much strain on the blood vessels and on the heart when blood is being pumped. This can result in the heart being damaged from having to work too hard to get blood to the whole body. That stress usually comes from the person not being active to strengthen their heart or keep how much the heart has distribute to at a manageable level, that isn’t the result of fat but fat is a result.

Now, let’s take a look at what Obesity really is. Obesity is not some infection that kills cells or a malfunction that damages the body. Obesity is a way of being, it is a lifestyle choice that can be a cause for negative things and a certain figure. It doesn’t kill thousands of people, what comes along with the side effect of excess fat does the killing and harm. Plus, Obesity can’t be treated like other diseases since it has such a varying amount of causes and different levels of Obesity form person to person. It wouldn’t be possible to “treat” something like on a scale that classifying it as a disease would bring. It is something that has be changed by the individual person. Yes there are things that work for many people to “combat” obesity like exercise or a balanced diet but that won’t work as a “cure” to all obesity.

In summation; Obesity isn’t a disease itself, it is cause by lots of other diseases and the choice of inactivity. The fat doesn’t cause the actual harm, things that come with the gaining of excess fat cause the harm instead. Also, it wouldn’t be able to be applied as a disease because of its own nature. It is so varied between people and having a “cure” for it wouldn’t be possible to find. So no, Obesity is not a disease. 

Bibliography

Obesity: MedlinePlus." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 8 May 2015.

Prader-Willi Syndrome." Genetics Home Reference. National Library of Medicine, June 2014. Web. 8 May 2015.
National Institute of Health. "What Is High Blood Pressure?" -

NHLBI, NIH. National Institute of Health, 2 Aug. 2012. Web. 21 May 2015.