Does Gaining Weight Make You More Prone to Fungal Infections?

Weight gain comes with a number of health risks.

A higher body weight puts you at risk of stroke and heart disease. Additionally, it can cause body pain and osteoarthritis. There are also mental health risks that come with weight gain.

But what about weight and fungal infections? Could gaining weight put you at risk of infectious diseases? What do the statistics show?

The Link Between Your Body Weight and Fungal Infections

Korean researchers have discovered a fascinating fact. If you gain weight, you are likelier to develop a toenail infection.

This was an extremely large-scale study. They looked into the health status of 9 million people. All of them were older than twenty.

So what did the researchers discover exactly? Obese people were twice likelier than slim people to have this infection. Even slightly overweight study subjects were likelier to suffer from toenail fungus.

It’s important to note that Koreans have a fairly low body weight average. In the US, obesity is far more widespread.

What About Treatment?

Is it useful to link weight and fungal infections? Can it help treatment?

Losing weight can help you prevent toenail fungus. This is one of the many reasons why weight loss can improve your health.

Knowing about this connection is useful for screening. Doctors could spot infections before they start showing symptoms.

However, losing weight takes time. Fast-acting diets are harmful and they don’t have permanent results. So if a person has toenail fungus, they need more urgent treatment than weight gain.

Unfortunately, obesity can make it more difficult to care for your toenails. This is another way that weight can make fungal diseases spread.

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