Increased Risk for Serious Illness

Obese people (BMI > 30) have an increased risk for developing different serious illnesses:

1. Diabetes
   The number of people who have diabetes has increased violently the last few years. An increase that can be explained by overweight becoming more and more common. Far most people who have diabetes are in fact overweight. Overweight increases your risk of having diabetes with up to 10 times.
   
   
2. Thromboses
   Thromboses arise when you blood vessels become hardened. High BMI, smoking, raised cholesterol and raised blood pressure are the most significant causes of hardening of the arteries. Your risk of having a thrombosis in the heart of in the brain is twice as big if you are overweight than if you are normal weight. Every time your weight increases with 10 kg, your blood pressure rises with 2-4 mmHg.
   
   
3. Cancer
   Overweight women with overweight have twice as frequent cancer in breast and abdomen as normal weight women. Overweight men have twice as frequent cancer in the prostate gland as normal weight people.
   
   
4. Osteoarthritis
   Overweight doubles your risk of having osteoarthritis in knees, hip and lower back. It is calculated that for every 5 kg the weight is increased, the risk of having osteoarthritis is increased with 10%.
   
   
5. Involuntary childlessness
   Obesity is connected to lack of or irregular menstruations and involuntary childlessness.
   
   
6. Trouble with sleeping
   Obesity leads to snoring, bad breathing at night and tiredness during the day.

Further reading on How to treat overweight?