What are the risk factors for obesity?
Guido Bosco
2025-08-02 10:29:45
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: 16
Certain medications, such as antidepressants, steroids, anti-seizure medications, diabetes medications and beta-blockers, may contribute to weight gain. Disability, including physical and learning disabilities, can also contribute to obesity due to physical limitations and lack of adequate specialized education and resources. Eating habits, such as consuming more calories than your body needs, eating ultra-processed food, high-sugar foods and drinks, and foods with high amounts of saturated fat, may cause overweight. Genetics, specifically obesity-susceptibility genes, can affect appetite and contribute to obesity. Lack of physical activity, including high amounts of screen time, can cut into the time available for physical activity. Lack of sleep, or missing out on at least seven hours of sleep, can affect the hormones that keep hunger urges under control. Stress can also contribute to obesity, as the brain and body react to stress by making more hormones like cortisol that manage hunger, leading to eating high-fat, high-sugar food that the body stores as extra fat. Underlying health issues, such as diseases like metabolic syndrome and polycystic ovary syndrome, can cause side effects like weight gain. A waist circumference of more than 35 inches in females or 40 inches in males can be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease or Type 2 diabetes.
Jena Ortiz
2025-08-02 06:49:03
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: 19
Certain health behaviors can contribute to excess weight gain and are risk factors for obesity: Lack of physical activity. Unhealthy eating patterns such as: Too many highly processed foods or added sugars, including too many sugar-sweetened beverages. Too little fiber and fruits and vegetables. Not enough sleep or poor quality sleep. Too much TV, computer, video games, and other screen time.
Some health conditions may lead to excess weight gain, obesity, or insulin resistance. These conditions include Cushing syndrome, polycystic ovary syndrome, or underactive thyroid. Some medications may also cause weight gain by disrupting the brain's signals for hunger or through other mechanisms.
In specific, rare, single-gene disorders, genes can directly cause obesity. Examples of these disorders are Bardet-Biedl syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome. It is more common for multiple genes to be responsible for a person's feelings of hunger, sense of fullness, and metabolism.
Health is influenced by the conditions in which people live, learn, work, and play. Examples include: Access to healthy, affordable foods and beverages. Access to safe places for physical activity. Community design to support activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations. Also, some chemicals in the environment can disrupt how our bodies work and cause excess weight gain.
Ernestine Mayer
2025-08-02 05:30:01
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: 11
There are many risk factors for overweight and obesity. Some are individual factors like knowledge, skills, and behaviors. Others are in your environment, such as school, workplace, and neighborhood. Additionally, food industry practices and marketing as well as social and cultural norms and values can also impact your risk. Lack of physical activity, combined with high amounts of TV, computer, video game, or other screen time has been associated with a high body mass index (BMI). Some unhealthy eating behaviors can increase your risk for overweight and obesity. Eating more calories than you use, eating too much saturated fat, and eating foods high in added sugar can all contribute to obesity. Not getting enough good-quality sleep and high amounts of stress can also affect the hormones that control hunger urges. Some conditions, such as metabolic syndrome and polycystic ovary syndrome, cause people to gain weight. Genetics can also play a role, with researchers finding at least 15 genes that influence obesity. Certain medicines, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, and birth control, can also cause weight gain. Your environment can contribute to unhealthy eating and a lack of physical activity, with factors such as access to sidewalks, green spaces, restaurants, and grocery stores all playing a role.
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