Weight gain and obesity have a high and rising prevalence in most countries these days, and women are at an increased risk. According to the World Health Organization’s World Health Statistics Report 2012, one in six adults is obese and nearly 2.8 million people die each year due to being overweight or obese globally.
Obesity is also linked to other metabolic disorders including hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease and even some cancers. A study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research and India Diabetes (ICMR-INDIAB) in 2015, found that (a) India’s 2.8 billion-strong population is already at risk of issues related to obesity and (b) Indian women have a higher prevalence of obesity due to a number of reasons.
Weight gain in women can naturally happen owing to a number of causes, but most are related to hormonal imbalance. The endocrine glands in the body secrete hormones, which are chemical messengers that travel around the body via the bloodstream and tell organs and tissues how to function. Too much or too little of a hormone refers to a hormonal imbalance and can affect the normal function of the body.
Among women, this imbalance - especially in female hormones - might be associated with certain stages of reproductive life, like pregnancy and menopause, or it can happen due to other health issues. In all these cases, the likelihood of weight gain and obesity is quite high. Here is everything you need to know about how hormonal imbalance in women can lead to weight gain: