KARACHI, May 31: Obesity among children and women varies from mild degrees of overweight during periods of inactivity and overeating to severe, grotesque deformity in terms of weight.

According to health experts, overfeeding in infants results in an excess number of cells and consequently dooms an individual to gaining weight. “The only fat children who outgrow their obesity are those who initiate weight reduction,” they claimed.

Children with poor self-concept and without awareness of their resources will react to social rejection with shame, self- contempt, guilt, helpless submission and eventually withdraw from society and consequently become more obese.

Many obese adults have been fat as children. It is generally agreed that obesity with early onset in life is much less receptive to therapy than that which develops later. Besides, it is more related to serious personality problems.

According to them, eating is a way to pass time in Pakistan, fried and high-fat foods, plus our sedentary habits all add up to being overweight. “All sorts of psychiatric disorders may be associated with obesity, ranging from minor neurosis to major psychosis. Sometimes, cultures are extremely hostile and denigrating towards people who are even mildly overweight.

Night-eating syndrome is characterized by the sudden compulsive eating of large quantities of food in a short period, usually followed by guilt agitation. This is usually also a stress reaction, but in contrast to the night-eating syndrome, bouts of night-eating are not periodic but are quite often related to specific precipitating events.

There are people who respond to non-specific emotional stress by overeating when bored, lonely or anxious. Others eat in chronic states of tension and frustration and use food as a substitute for gratification in unpleasant or intolerable life situations.—PPI