Exporting Obesity

Robert Cucin MD JD MBA Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity , ,

The New York Times reports that over the past 35 years, Obesity has increased in the U.S. and Brazil by 2.5 times.  It has grown fastest in the countries throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia.  
Obesity has increased in China and Mali by 7.7 and 15.5 times respectively.

The shift to Western-style  processed food and sugary drinks is contributing to a new epidemic of diabetes and heart disease, chronic illnesses that are fed by soaring rates of obesity in places that struggled with hunger and malnutrition just a generation ago.


Obesity's spreadThe U.S. has been too successful at countering the world’s hunger and malnutrition problem with cheap high-calorie food.  Indeed, it might be said that one of the U.S.’s  major exports is obesity.

Classic advice for avoiding hyperglycemia and obesity is to eat healthy foods with vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans which are high in fiber.   Include foods in your diet that are low in fat, such as low-fat dairy (milk, yogurt, and cheese), fish, and lean meat and limit foods that are high in calories and sugar, such as sweet desserts, potato chips, and candy.  The latter comprises a signficiant portion of our exports.

Alas, a Western diet brings with it the health problems of the Western world.

Obesity Must Be Recognized As a Disease

Robert Cucin MD JD MBA Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity ,

In a recent article in the Lancet, it was pointed out that Portugal has officially recognized Obesity as a chronic disease since 2004, but remains the only country in Europe to do so.

Although the UK as a whole does not recognize obesity as a disease, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network did in 2010. The American Medical Association officially recognized Obesity as a disease and 2013 and the Canadian Medical Association followed suit in 2015.   In Canada, many Canadians who need obesity treatment must still pay for care because federal and local governments have not officially recognized the position of the Canadian Medical Association which has also recognized Obesity as a disease.

Recognizing Obesity as a treatable disease rather than a failure of will or a character flaw allows attention to be directed at correcting the chemical imbalance, a series of morbidies resultant from an accumulation of “belly fat, ” the visceral fat buried deep within the abdomen – sleep apnea, GERD, hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes mellitus, and an increased propensity for autoimmune diseases and cancers.  This visceral fat acts as an evil gland pouring its noxious cellular hormones directly into the liver and hijacking the body’s metabolism.

Recognizing Obesity as a disease clearly has economic consequences for national health care policies and insurance premiums in general.  But are not the impairments of GDP resulting from an impaired labor force and societal costs of ignoring the problem likely to be far greater if the disease is not recognized and treated early?   For example, the resultant Type 2 Diabetes is the most frequent cause of kidney failure requiring dialysis, the indication for over half of non-traumatic amputations, and a frequent cause of blindness.  These complications alone have devastating financial and social consequences.

Of course, Obesity must be recognized as a disease by all nations and attention directed to its early recognition and treatment.    This writer always capitalizes the “O” in Obesity to call attention to that fact and indicate it as such.

McKinsey’s Obesity Prevalence Projections May be LOW!

Robert Cucin MD JD MBA bariatric surgery, Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity , ,

McKinsey Global Institute has projected that by 2030, 50% of the world’s population will be obese and the annual cost of Obesity-related disease expenditures will have risen to $17,000,000,000,000.

An article in the Arab News reported that 70% of the Saudi’s are obese.   With Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes galloping along in developed nations, the terrifying fact is that McKinsey’s projections may underestimate the problem!

Let us hope that, by allowing us to directly and safely remove the visceral fat that is the origin of the problem, Endoscopic Visceral Lipectomy (“EVL”) can avoid the progression of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes and reverse it, and give us a weapon to slow the rising prevalence of this disease.  I entreat all reading this post to help make BioSculpture Technology’s DPO a success so we may be able to offer EVL to the 2.1 Billion people about the globe who may benefit from it.  Your investment may be both impactful and profitable.