South African obesity under spotlight at major conference
progress in many developing countries unless urgent action is
taken, experts warned at the first major international conference
on obesity in Africa yesterday.
"Childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity already present massive problems in this country and in many other parts of the developing world, which are already on the fast track to a massive explosion in type 2 diabetes. The economic burden from this will act as a brake on development, which depends on having a healthy and productive population," said Professor Philip James, chair of the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO).
Speaking at the IASO's first regional congress, he noted that obesity has already created a 'double burden' of disease in many parts of the developing world still struggling to overcome a legacy of undernutrition and its metabolic consequences for the generations that follow.
Many people are now highly susceptible to the adverse health impact of western diets - high in fats, sugars and salt - leading WHO to revise recently its recommendations on 'action points' for overweight populations across the whole of Asia.
The IASO has demonstrated that obesity is a global problem, with governments as well as the food industry required to tackle the epidemic. This weekend's conference will raise awareness of the scale of the problem in South Africa, where a 1998 survey highlighted 'remarkably high rates of obesity'. Almost 30 per cent of men and 56 per cent of women were overweight, including 9 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women obese.
More recent data published in the South African Youth Risk Assessment Survey 2002 by the South African Medical Research Council show that 17 per cent of 13-19-year-olds are overweight, particularly high in girls (25 per cent) compared to boys (7 per cent), and highest in white and Indian populations.
Another key factor in this trend, revealed in the 1999 National Food Consumption Survey, was that one in five children under the age of nine had suffered from stunting, related to chronic undernutrition early in life. These children may be particularly vulnerable to developing abdominal obesity with energy-dense western diets.
Earlier this year 191 ministers - including South Africa's health minister - agreed at the World Health Assembly in Geneva to a WHO global strategy on diet, physical activity and health that advises a reduction in dietary sugars, salt and trans fats and the promotion of healthy eating.
