Obesity and Illness in Adults

The relationship between obesity and illness in adults has been shown to be a worldwide epidemic.

Obesity and illness can be seen around the globe.

Being overweight can effect anyone from any walk of life - men or women, rich or poor, adult or child. No one is immune from this "disease" and the more you educate yourself about the problem of obesity the better your chances of avoiding falling victim to it.

Obesity has been linked as a major risk factor to several life-threatening illnesses.

These illnesses that have been associated with obesity include (but are not limited to) cardiovascular disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), stroke, diabetes and some cancers.

Cardiovascular disease can include heart attack, blocked arteries that can lead to a heart attack, congestive heart failure, and arrythmias (irregular heartbeats).

Hypertension is the same as high blood pressure.

Normally your blood pressure should be in the range of 120/80. This is not set in stone and some people's blood pressure will be higher or lower than this.

What's important is that your doctor is monitoring your blood pressure on a regular basis to assess for any abnormal changes. If this occurs they may prescribe medication to help control your blood pressure.

Exercise and proper diet can also help control your blood pressure.

High blood pressure can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

Stroke is also know as a CVA.

This means you have had a bleed on the brain that can destroy brain tissue and lead to areas of paralysis in your arms, legs or both. It can also affect your ability to speak, to understand speech, to eat and cause memory problems.

Obesity can predispose you to having a CVA or stroke.

Diabetes is a disease that affects the level of sugar in a persons body.

When sugar levels become to high or to low it can have serious affects on how a person's body functions leading to more serious health problems that can affect your vital organs including your heart, kidneys, cardiovascular system and brain.

Diabetes can also lead to circulatory problems that can affect the central nervous system and cause serious problems in the legs that can sometimes lead to amputation.

The Importance of the Immune System in Fighting Disease and Illness

As our defence mechanism against illness and disease, our immune systems are the cornerstone to keeping us fit and healthy.

Whenever some bacteria or virus attacks us our immune system sends out the troops to defend the gates of healthiness and keep illness at bay.

Globulins are the cells charged with circulating the blood and attacking any evil invaders, whilst lymphocytes (specialised white cells) patrol the body to control and dispose of any foreign material.

Immunity B Cells are the circulating globulins - known as immunoglobulins, also known as antibodies.

They can be separated into five groups, each taking charge of specific duties in defending the body. For instance some antibodies will take care of bacteria and viruses in the blood, whilst another might protect against allergies.

Immunity T Cells meanwhile attack viruses and foreign tissues. You may have seen recently the German farmer who had a double arm transplant after losing both of his arms to a combine harvester.

As amazing as this feat is one of the biggest issues in making this work is to stop the body from rejecting the new arms - this rejection is done by the T cells. T cells destroy all kinds of invaders whilst also remembering the nature of them - this makes the T cells more effective against returning invaders and is how our immune system develops.

It is clear then that our immune system depends on the effectiveness and ability of our B and T cells to recognise a nuisance bacteria or virus, as well as its' ability to fight it - though obviously we can help that along in some cases with the use of antibiotics etc.

You may now be wondering if our immune system is so good then why is the common cold such a consistent re-occurrence.

This is because some viruses such as the cold continually mutate and change in appearance, meaning our immune system does not recognise it.

This is also why the flu jab is offered - the flu is another mutating virus and each year the flu jab is changed to combat the latest mutation.

For some unfortunate people there are a number of hereditary diseases which result in their immune systems not functioning properly.

This is often caused by abnormalities in the chromosomes that mean a deficiency in the production of globulin antibodies, T lymphocytes or both. In such instances the consequences can be very serious.

It is possible to survive a lack of immunoglobulins as globulin from other people can be fed into a patient on a regular basis.

However a deficiency in white blood cells is much more serious and anyone born with such a condition usually dies young from a viral infection.