The Influence of Social Environment, Neuropsychiatric Factors, and Dietary Habits on Obesity

social environment

Historically in my country, due to low living standards, people had to increase their food intake to maintain the body's required calories. Entering the 1980s, living standards improved significantly, and the dietary structure underwent a qualitative change. However, many people lacked essential nutritional knowledge, and their long-standing eating habits remained unchanged for decades. With increased calorie intake but no decrease in food consumption, coupled with reduced physical activity, the number of obese people naturally increased year by year.

Nervous system, mental health

The human brain contains a satiety center and a hunger center, which are connected by nerve fibers and function by mutual regulation and constraint. However, lesions in certain parts of the brain or certain metabolic changes in the body can affect the satiety center, making people lack a feeling of fullness, so they continue to eat, which can easily lead to obesity.

In addition, psychological factors, imbalance of digestive enzymes in the intestines, sudden reduction in physical activity, overnutrition after illness, long-term alcohol consumption, and improper medication can also cause obesity.

Dietary habits

Overeating and a preference for high-fat foods developed in childhood are also contributing factors to obesity. Recent studies have shown that from the 30th week of fetal development to within the first two years of life, fat cells undergo a period of extremely active proliferation. During this time, excessive nutrition can lead to an increase in fat cells. A normal person has approximately 25-28 billion fat cells; if this number increases to 63.5-90 billion, obesity begins.

In recent years, Japanese nutrition experts have proposed a new perspective, suggesting that obesity in some individuals is not simply due to overnutrition, but may also be largely caused by a lack of a nutrient in the diet that enables fat to be converted into energy. This viewpoint has some merit.

So, who exactly is prone to weight gain? As we can see from the above, it mainly includes the following groups of people.

1. People whose parents are obese are more likely to become obese themselves. This is due to genetic factors.

2. People who eat a lot, especially high-fat, high-calorie foods such as fatty meat and sweets, but who don't like to exercise.

3. People who used to love sports but have now stopped or reduced their exercise. Such as some retired or career-changing athletes, dancers, etc.

4. People are prone to weight gain in middle age. This is due to both reduced physical activity and a slower metabolism, which easily leads to fat accumulation, most notably in the abdomen. This is what people often refer to as middle-aged "weight gain."

5. People who frequently drink large amounts of beer are prone to weight gain because beer has a high amino acid content and is known as a "fattening agent".

6. Women are prone to weight gain after childbirth. To replenish the energy consumed during childbirth, postpartum women often crave high-fat, high-calorie foods and exercise less, leading to overnutrition and obesity.

7. People with endocrine disorders are prone to weight gain because of disordered fat metabolism and a slowed metabolism.

8. People who oversleep are more prone to weight gain because they burn fewer calories while sleeping.

In short, people with irregular lifestyles, who overeat, are fond of eating and sleeping, and do not like to exercise have a high chance of becoming obese.