"The weight of our nation : India"
PART 2 of the series in
"The weight of our nation:
India"
Nutritional
Transition and Dual Burden
India is facing a nutritional transition, from a country
starved of basic nutrition we have marched to urbanization with a diet which is
energy dense. Although parts of the country still face malnutrition, the presence
of obesity is prevalent and ever-growing.
Look around you and you will realize that at least one
person in your family is obese or over weight.
Our country is facing a dual burden of under nutrition and over
nutrition. Iron, vitamin A and iodine have always been related to under
nutrition but the American journal of clinical nutrition have now found a link
between obesity and vitamin D deficiency.
The issue of concern here is that children are being
given an energy dense diet but inadequately nourished foods. Obesity can be
blamed on syndrome x and the thrifty gene that is most common India but it all
comes down to leading a lifestyle that is degrading the very quality and
longevity of life. World health organization estimates that diabetes is on the
rise in India and will increase from 19.4 million in 1995 to 57.2 million by
2025.
“Sedentary
lifestyles have been associated with the urban living environment in India” (1)
The national nutrition bureau reports that 5 percent of
the population consumes 40 percent of available fat, and yes this 5 percent is
the urban population. Income inequality plays a major factor in understanding
the dual burden and nutritional transition of the country.
Children born in lower income homes face under nutrition
and children born in well to do homes face over nutrition, hence the need to
study the double burden and help both the over nourished and undernourished.
“Those living in urban areas have an
increased risk of over nutrition and may face serious associated health
problems. Factors associated with under- and
overweight are similar. Indian women in the
highest socioeconomic groups are more likely to be overweight or obese, whereas
nearly half of poor women are underweight” (2)
OBESITY IN INDIA REFLECTING ON CHILDREN
The factors that affect
childhood obesity are health education, physical education, health services,
nutritional services, social services, healthy school environment, parental
co-operation and an overall healthy life style. Children imitate the life style
of their parents.
There are abundant
studies reflecting the need for nutrition as developing countries are now being
flooded with the epidemic of childhood obesity. In 2004, Bray suggests that
‘obesity meets the criteria needed to call it a disease’. This is an understood
fact as obesity is a precursor to major risk factor for many diseases; Such as
most metabolic diseases.
For example, Diabetes,
heart diseases, hyper tension, some sort of cancers and the list goes on. India
was once considered a nation suffering from starvation which has suddenly been
enveloped by an ever growing epidemic of obesity. It has been observed that 33%
of obese adults were obese since early childhood. Therefore this confirms the
link between childhood obesity and obesity in adults.
Morbid obesity has
affected 5% of India’s population. India is susceptible to obesity genetically
as Asians carry the thrifty gene.
India’s most urbanized
and obese States namely Punjab, Kerala and Goa rank high according to the
statistics conducted in 2007 National Family Health Survey.
Urbanization I feel has been a great cause for obesity
in India where childhood obesity is a reflection of obesity in adults. The
adults in India tend to eat energy dense foods but undernourished foods which
add weight to the body. There is concentration on quantity but the quality is
neglected. So as we observe the adult statistics we can conclude that the
children will follow the same pattern.
refrence: (1) The
American Society for Nutritional Sciences, The Nutrition Transition Is Underway
in India1,2 Paula
L. Griffiths*,4 and Margaret
E. Bentley*,†http://jn.nutrition.org/content/131/10/2692.full
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