Coronary Heart Disease
Obesity is defined simply as too much body fat. Your body is made up of water, fat, protein, carbohydrate and various vitamins and minerals. If you have too much fat (especially in your waist area), you’re at a higher risk for developing further health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, heart failure and stroke.
Obesity is now recognized as a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, which can lead to heart attack. Obesity, raises blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and lowers HDL (“good” cholesterol).
HDL cholesterol is linked with lower heart disease and stroke risk, so reducing the levels tends to raise the risk of high blood pressure and it can also induce diabetes. Diabetes makes these other risk factors much worse. The danger of heart disease and heart attack is especially high for diabetics, along with several other diseases.
Obesity itself (and not just the associated medical conditions) can lead to heart disease and heart failure. It also harms more than just the heart and blood vessel system. It is a major cause of gallstones and can worsen degenerative joint disease.