A health professional can help in planning an appropriate diet, if necessary. When a nutritional disorder is well advanced and serious, it may be necessary to hospitalize a patient and supply that person with a diet of nutrient concentrates administered either through a gastric tube or intravenously. About 40 percent of the people in the United States are obese, and many more are overweight. It is easy to slip from being overweight to being obese. The chance of dying before the age of 60 is 30 percent higher if a person is 10 percent overweight, and 150 percent higher if 20 percent overweight.
Obese people run a high risk of coronary diseases.
An obese person may develop diabetes, is likely to suffer from varicose veins and hemorrhoids, and by putting an unnatural load on joints can develop arthritis at an early age. An obese person may suffer from skin irritation in the folds of fat and is likely to develop breathing difficulties in later life. Obesity is seldom caused by a glandular disorder. Obesity is usually caused by a person eating more than he or she is using up in energy. An obese person must reduce his or her caloric intake to a level below what the body needs, forcing it to use the excess stored in the tissues.