You may have heard the expression knowledge is power.

Well, today we're gonna give you more power to control your diet and lifestyle by giving

you the facts.

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast.

I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger.

Today it's part two in our series on obesity and we start out by looking for an alternative

to knee replacement surgery for osteoarthritis that treats the cause and offers beneficial side

effects.

The largest study in history and the health effects of being overweight, analyzing data

for more than 50 million people from nearly 200 countries found that excess body weight

accounts for their premature deaths of about 4 million people every year.

Most of these deaths are from heart disease but the researchers found convincing or probable

evidence linking obesity to 20 different disorders.

A veritable alphabet soup of potential health concerns.

In the ABCs of health consequences A is for arthritis.

Obesity can make rheumatoid arthritis worse and increase the risk of another inflammatory

joint disease, the so-called disease of kings gout.

The most common joint disease in the world though is osteoarthritis and obesity may be

the main modifiable risk factor.

Most osteoarthritis develops when the cushioning cartilage lining of joints breaks down faster

than your body can build it back up.

The knees are the most commonly affected leading to the consumption that the relation to obesity

...