Are all obesity-related diseases potentially life threatening?
Many of them are, though not all of them. Yet, even those that are not life threatening may be life changing. A case in point is gallbladder disease. It is unusual to find many thin, physically active people with this condition. Gallbladder disease, in fact, is usually preventable through diet and exercise. Obese people who develop this condition probably aren’t going to die from it, but the disease can be extremely painful and, more often than not, require surgery. Osteoarthritis, another typically nonfatal but nonetheless crippling disease, also is linked with obesity. If low-fat diets now are considered ineffective in reducing these chronic diseases, what else can be done to lower these risks? Strive to maintain an ideal body weight, which typically requires eating more responsibly and exercising more. While medication is available to treat cholesterol, diabetes and other conditions related to metabolic syndrome, no pill has yet been developed to treat all of these problems at once.
