Obesity - a weighty issue

photo credit: Trinitas Imaging / Ooodit

What’s the problem?

• In May of 2002, the World Health Organization announced a rise in obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Remarkably, this occurred not only in affluent developed nations - but also among developing nations in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, where malnutrition was once the major dietary issue.
• The International Obesity Task Force currently estimates that 22 million of the world’s children under five years of age are overweight or obese.
• The picture is worse for adults. Worldwide, 300 million of us are obese - and at least 750 million Severe obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) (a standard measure of weight to height) of at least 40 which typically translates into at least 100 pounds overweight.
• Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer.
• The key causes are increased consumption of energy-dense foods high in saturated fats and sugars, and reduced physical activity.

Why is this happening?

• Obesity in the developing world can be seen as a result of a series of changes in diet, physical activity, health and nutrition, collectively known as the ‘nutrition transition.’ As poor countries become more prosperous, they acquire some of the benefits along with some of the problems of industrialized nations. These include obesity.
• Since urban areas are much further along in the transition than rural ones, they experience higher rates of obesity. Cities offer a greater range of food choices, generally at lower prices. Urban work often demands less physical exertion than rural work. And as more and more women work away from home, they may be too busy to shop for, prepare and cook healthy meals at home. The fact that more people are moving to the city compounds the problem. In 1900, just 10 percent of the world population inhabited cities. Today, that figure is nearly 50 percent.
• That is not to say that rural areas are immune. Increased mechanization of farm activity leads to reduced physical activity at the same time that more food — but not necessarily a better variety of foods — becomes available. Many rural farmers have given up subsistence farming of multiple crops that provide a more balanced diet in favour of a single, high-yielding cash crop.

Importing poor eating habits

• Another element of the nutrition transition is the increasing importation of foods from the industrialized world. As a result, traditional diets featuring grains and vegetables are giving way to meals high in fat and sugar.
• Some critics blame industrialized countries for producing leaner cuts of meat for their own citizens but selling the high-fat remainders elsewhere. Turkey tails and mutton flaps (cuts of skin, fat and little meat) are sold to the developing world, for instance, despite the fact that 80 percent of the energy in these items come from fat.
• And as food companies watch incomes rise in the developing world, they are setting their sights on new markets. From Mexico to Morocco, the same foods that jeopardize health in wealthy countries are now tempting poor ones.
• Other dietary changes are taking place regardless of outside influences. In China, when per capita income grew fourfold after the economic reforms of the late 1970s, the consumption of high-fat foods soared. And while incomes grew, the income needed to purchase a fatty diet decreased. In 1962, a diet containing 20 percent of total energy from fat correlated with a per capita GNP of US$1 475. By 1990, a GNP of just $750 correlated with the same diet.
• In a number of countries, globalization has changed the face of obesity. In Mexico and Brazil, for example, where overweight used to be a sign of wealth, it now often marks poverty. The increased availability of foods at lower prices mean the poor have access to a richer diet. While the elite can choose to adopt a healthy lifestyle, the poor have fewer food choices and more limited access to nutrition education.

The cost of a poor diet

• The underweight and overweight share high levels of sickness and disability, shortened life spans and reduced productivity. Obesity increases the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease and a number of cancers.
• And the developing world risks suffering the lion’s share of the growing disease burden. For instance, the number of people with obesity-related diabetes is expected to double to 300 million between 1998 and 2025 — with three-quarters of that growth projected in the developing world.
• For nations whose economic and social resources are already stretched to the limit, the result could be disastrous.

Take Action

1. Support local farmers and promote the consumption of local foods.
2. Support regulations to prevent the marketing of unhealthy food, particularly to children.
3. Discourage consumption of categories of foods known to contribute to poor diet and obesity, beginning where the science is strongest - soft drinks.
4. Protect opportunities and incentives for physical activity
5. Facilitate healthier travel (e.g. walking and cycling to work or school)
6. The importance of making physical activity a part of our daily routine cannot be overemphasised. Countries such as Denmark, where there are a greater number of cycling lanes, have a lower prevalence of obesity than the UK. A 14-year study conducted in Denmark also found that those who cycled daily (at least 3 hours per week) had a 40% lower mortality rate than those who took a sedentary route to work.
7. Limit energy intake from total fats and shift fat consumption away from saturated fats to unsaturated fats
8. Increase consumption of fruit and vegetables, as well as legumes, whole grains and nuts;
9. Limit the intake of sugars

Find Out More

Visit these links for further information:

1. global issues
2. wikipedia
3. what’s on family dinner tables in fifteen different homes around the globe?
4. see how obesity rates have changed over the last 17 years in the USA.