Obesity is an increase of body weight 20% higher than the normal standard. It is caused by over-intake of heat energy which is beyond the requirement of the human body and stored as excessive fat in the body. Usually it falls into two categories: simple obesity and secondary obesity. Simple obesity has no obvious endocrine-metabolic disturbance but comes into being from childhood. Clinically it is manifested as overweight and fatigue accompanied by abdominal flatulence, heavy limbs, fullness over the chest, short breath, palpitation and hyperhidrosis. Though it may be seen at any age, obesity is mostly seen in middle aged and older groups. With the improvement of the living standards, more and more people suffer from obesity and its related diseases such as hyperlipemia, coronary atherosclerotic heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, fatty liver, cholelithiasis, apoplexy, etc., which has already aroused universal concern. Secondary obesity may have the symptoms of primary diseases like hypothalamic syndrome and Cushing's syndrome. Some related nervous, mental and endocrine examinations should be made to determine the diagnosis.
Obesity results from endogenous and exogenous factors. The former refers to various intrinsic factors (heredity, neuropycbosis, metabolism, endocrine) which affect the regulation of the fat metabolism, and the latter includes hyperphagia and hypoactivity. Continue to read Chinese Medicine Treatment for Obesity.
According to its clinical manifestations, obesity pertains to the categories of "fei pang" (overweight) or "tan yin" (fat man). Its etiology is related to congenital defect, over-intake of greasy food, prolonged lying or sitting, deficiency of healthy qi due to protracted illness, and emotional upset. It mainly involves the spleen and muscles, but is closely related to the deficiency of kidney qi. Generally, its pathogenesis is principal deficiency and secondary excess. Principal deficiency is marked by qi deficiency, mostly deficiency of spleen qi and kidney qi, which may be accompanied with deficiency of heart qi and spleen qi and failure of the liver and gallbladder to control dispersion; secondary excess is mainly the retention of turbid phlegm and fat accompanied with dampness, blood stasis and qi stagnation.
