Obesity is one of the leading risk factors for ill health in New Zealand. A raised BMI is related to many chronic diseases and conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers including breast, ovarian, prostate and colon cancer.

The risk of these comorbidities increases with your BMI2.

Obesity can severely impact your quality of life. It’s linked to fertility issues for both men and women and is also linked to musculoskeletal disorders including osteoarthritis3.

It’s estimated that obesity causes over 4 million deaths worldwide each year4.

Type 2 diabetes
Sleep apnoea, snoring
heart disease
High blood pressure
Infertility
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
Anxiety & Depression
What is a comorbidity?

The research behind the science

1 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2017. Impact of overweight and obesity as a risk factor for chronic conditions: Australian Burden of Disease Study. Available at https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/burden-of-disease/impact-of-overweight-and-obesity-as-a-risk-factor-for-chronic-conditions/contents/table-of-contents, Accessed September 2019.

2 World Health Organisation Obesity and Overweight Fact Sheet, 9 June 2021 Available at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight. December 2021.

3 Bliddal H, Leeds AR, Christensen R. Osteoarthritis, obesity and weight loss: evidence, hypotheses and horizons – a scoping review. Obes Rev. 2014;15(7):578-586. doi:10.1111/obr.12173 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4238740/

4 Dai H, Alsalhe TA, Chalghaf N, Riccò M, Bragazzi NL, Wu J. The global burden of disease attributable to high body mass index in 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: An analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study. PLoS Med. 2020;17(7):e1003198. Published 2020 Jul 28. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003198 https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003198