Malnutrition may increase the risk of infectious diseases. Most common illnesses like tuberculosis, anemia, hypertension, diabetes, etc. Malnutrition can be defined as excessive, insufficient, or unbalanced nutrition.
Excessive or over-consumption of nutrients is not good to anyone’s health. It can also lead to malnutrition. Obesity is the most common example of excessive consumption without discipline. It may increase the risk of health problems such as heart diseases, diabetes, etc.
Obesity can also be acquired through genes. When two parents are obese, there is a big chance that their child will be obese. It is the individual’s responsibility to discipline one’s self to proper diet. High caloric intake and lack of healthy physical activities such as exercise may also cause obesity.
A 2006 review by Dr. of Biostatics Keith SW, (DT, Katzmarzyk PT, et al.) identified ten other possible contributors to the recent increase of obesity:
(1) Insufficient sleep,
(2) Endocrine disruptors (environmental pollutants that interfere with lipid metabolism),
(3) Decreased variability in ambient temperature,
(4) Decreased rates of smoking, because smoking suppresses appetite,
(5) Increased use of medications that can cause weight gain
(6) Proportional increases in ethnic and age groups that tend to be heavier,
(7) Pregnancy at a later age (which may cause susceptibility to obesity in children),
(8) Epigenetic risk factors passed on generationally,
(9) Natural selection for higher BMI
a10) Assorted mating leading to increased concentration of obesity risk factors (this would not necessarily increase the number of obese people, but would increase the average population weight).
Since obesity can be best avoided and treated through diet and physical exercise, it is still the leading preventable cause of death all over the globe. There are a lot of treatments for obesity (e.g., anti-obesity drugs, surgeries, etc), but the simplest, easier and non-costly way is through regulation in food intake and regular exercise.
