Obesity must be treated as a disease, expert says

• Obesity, which already affects more than 300 million people and an alarming number of children, must be recognized and treated as a disease with deadly complications, a leading expert said on Wednesday.
• Up to 8 percent of total healthcare costs in some Western countries are attributable to obesity and related problems.
• It is a very complex problem tightly connected to diabetes, atherosclerosis (blocked arteries) and other major health problems and causes of death," Professor Constantine Tsigos, chairman of the 14th European Congress on Obesity, told Reuters ahead of the meeting.
• "The emphasis has been put on the complications to increase the awareness of obesity as a disease and a serious condition with many risks associated with it," said Tsigos.
• Despite a better understanding of the causes of obesity, a multi-billion dollar diet industry and countless weight-loss programs and gadgets, the number of overweight and obese people is rising at an astounding rate.
• Tsigos stressed that prevention efforts must be geared to the young because excess weight in children is linked to early markers for metabolic syndrome -- a collection of health risks that increase the odds of developing heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
• The symptoms include a large waistline or "beer belly," high blood pressure, raised insulin levels, excess body weight and abnormal cholesterol levels.
• Awareness of the problem has increased but he said some doctors still consider obesity as more of an aesthetic problem.
• Two anti-obesity drugs, Roche Holding AG's Xenical and Meridia, made by Abbott Laboratories, are already available and more treatments are in the pipeline.
• Tsigos said treatments are not only aimed at improving weight loss but achieving benefits such as reduced blood pressure, better insulin sensitivity and improved well being.