Fat is part of the body’s tissues, just like muscles and bones, and it needs a blood supply. As you gain weight, more blood vessels and more blood are needed to supply these new tissues.

For every 0.5 kg of weight gain, approximately 1.5 km of blood vessels are needed. Think about the strain on your heart if you gain 4.8 or 20kg overweight.

Overweight people may also have higher levels of fats in the blood, which build up on the walls of arteries and restrict blood flow to the heart. Therefore, the heart has to work harder and receive less nutrition.

The increased work of the heart to pump blood through an ever-elongating network of blood vessels and excess fatty tissue causes it to beat with greater force. The blood hits the walls of the arteries with force, damaging them and causing small cracks and scratches. These injuries lead to the formation of a large number of platelets, which can cause blockage of capillaries and blood vessels. Gradually, the arteries become clogged with platelets and clogged. A piece of blood clot can break off and travel through the vessels until it reaches a smaller vessel and clogs it. If such a blockage occurs in an artery that feeds the brain, that part of the brain can become damaged or destroyed.

A substance called insulin helps blood sugar enter the body’s hungry cells, where it is used as fuel. But too much fatty tissue makes it difficult to “listen” to insulin, so blood sugar simply swims past the hungry cells and accumulates in the bloodstream. Cells are not getting nourished, and excess blood sugar can affect the kidneys, eyes, heart, and nerves.