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Mahesh

03/03/24 18:58 PM IST

Obesity on the rise, high levels of undernutrition persist in India

In News
  • India has seen a steady increase in obesity levels — not only in adults but children too — over the last 32 years.
Parameters of obese & underweight
  • According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), obesity is an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that poses health risks.
  • Adults — anyone over the age of 20 years — are considered to be obese, if they have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or more.
  • BMI is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • School-aged children and adolescents — anyone between the ages of 5 and 19 years — are considered obese, if their BMI is two standard deviations more than the mean.
  • Underweight is one of the four broad sub-forms of undernutrition.
  • An adult is considered underweight if their BMI is less than 18 kg/m2.
  • School-aged children and adolescents are considered underweight if their BMI is two standard deviations below the mean.
Findings of the report
  • Obesity in women has spiked in the past three decades — it increased from 1.2% in 1990 to 9.8% in 2022, according to the study.
  • There were 44 million women living with obesity in 2022. Meanwhile, obesity in men increased by 4.9 percentage points during the same period, with 26 million men living with obesity in 2022.
  • Notably, there has also been a significant increase in childhood obesity.
  • There has been a spike of 3 percentage points in girls and 3.7 percentage points in boys over the 32 years that the study examined.
  • In 2022, 3.1% of girls and 3.9% of boys were obese. In other words, while 0.2 million boys and 0.2 million girls were obese in 1990, 7.3 million boys and 5.2 million girls were obese in 2022.
  • Despite a significant decline, the prevalence of underweight and thinness continues to be high across genders and age groups.
  • The study found that 13.7% of women and 12.5% of men were underweight.
  • Thinness — a measure of being underweight in children — in Indian girls was found to be the highest in the world, with a prevalence of 20.3%. And, it was the second highest in Indian boys, with a prevalence of 21.7%.
Socio-economic conditions affect obesity and undernutrition
  • Eating junk food is cheaper and easier. For example, the cost of samosas and pakoras available at roadside shacks is less than fruit and vegetables.
  • While it is not nutritious, it is tastier. It is the same as the West, where a McDonald’s burger will cost say a dollar but fresh vegetables much more.
  • This has led to an increase in obesity even among the poor, especially in states that are better off such as Tamil Nadu, Punjab, and Goa.
  • The prevalence of obesity was 31.7% in urban women and 19% in rural women. It was 28.6% among urban men and 18.8% among rural men
  • Undernutrition persists in extremely remote and rural parts of poorer states where access to any kind of food is low.
  • Undernutrition is prevalent in the extremely poor populations in states like Bihar, Jharkhand, or Odisha, where people might be eating just one meal a day.
  • An increase in obesity, especially in children, is likely to lead to an increase in diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks, and strokes.
  • Undernutrition is likely to increase the burden of non-communicable diseases.
Way forward
  • The focus has to be on programmes that enhance healthy nutrition, such as targeted cash transfers, food assistance as subsidies or vouchers for healthy foods, free healthy school meals, and primary care-based nutritional interventions.
  • Other than ensuring food security, the study also mentioned that there is an urgent need for supporting weight loss in those with obesity.
  • Prevention and management are especially important because the age of onset of obesity has decreased, which increases the duration of exposure. Making healthy food affordable and accessible is the challenge.
  • With a boom in the market for drugs to treat obesity, the study added: “New pharmacological treatment of obesity, although promising, is likely to have a low impact globally in the short-term, due to high cost and the absence of generalisable clinical guidelines.
Source- Indian Express

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