Human obesity: a medical assessment of health risks

Human obesity is characterized by a series of medical complications, including glucose intolerance, hypertension, dyslipidemia and alterations in haemostasis and fibrinolytic functions. These elements of the so-called syndrome X or polymetabolic syndrome, can easily and prematurely lead to early atherosclerosis. Abdominal obesity, and its visceral component in particular, is the most detrimental aspect of health-related risk. We have shown that hyperlipidemia and hypertension are important consequences of abdominal fat accumulation and they may account for at least a part of the relationship between overweight and coronary heart disease. Despite the fact that some gender differences exist, these results confirm earlier results of the effect of fat distribution on lipids, lipoproteins and the subsequent risk of ischemic heart disease. The addition of hyperinsulinaemia and insulin resistance completes the cluster of syndrome X, as was shown in previous epidemiological and prospective studies.