The Hindu Business Line : Adolescents weighed down by obesity: Study

People are using their growing income to replace traditional diets rich in fibre and grain with diets that include a greater proportion of fats and calorie sweeteners.

Kochi , Jan. 8

THE prevalence of obesity among adolescents is on the rise and is affecting an estimated 250 million worldwide and is expected to increase further.

Obesity has increased more rapidly among adolescents than among the middle-aged population, according to an international report.

"A steady, and in some cases life-long, diet of high fat fast foods and idle hours in front of the television and computer, has taken its toll on children," said an international expert in The Cracker, a magazine published by the International Nut Council.

"Most adults who are obese now were not so during their childhood. They obtained their extra pounds after they were 25 or 30 years old. But, now we have more and more people who are already obese at the age of 10, 15 or 20," it said.

If the trend continues, "the future does not look better. It looks worse unless we can find a way to prevent obesity".

Along with expanding waistlines, being overweight or obese increases the risk of type-2 diabetes, heart disease, strokes and certain cancer.

In the US, over half of the adult population is obese or overweight and obesity costs about $93 billion (around Rs 4,04,922 crore) a year in medical expenses.

Elsewhere, obesity rates range from two per cent in some developing countries, to 80 per cent in remote Pacific Islands and about 20 per cent in western countries.

Though more studies are needed to understand the precise prevalence of overweight and obesity in India, school based data demonstrated an obesity range of 5.6 per cent to 24 per cent for the children and adolescents in the country, according to Indian paediatrics.

A study conducted by a Medical College and Hospital in Punjab among school children of both sexes in 2003 revealed that more than one-tenth of school children in the age group of 9 to 15 were obese, a figure only slightly lower than that reported from most western countries.

However, when compared with the earlier studies, there was an increasing trend for obesity among adolescents, it said.

The rising influence of urbanisation, satellite television invasion has changed the life styles of the people drastically in India. "Paradoxically, as is happening elsewhere in the developing world, people are using their growing income to replace traditional diets rich in fibre and grain with diets that include a greater proportion of fats and calorie sweeteners," it said. Prevalence of obesity was 11.1 per cent while 14.2 per cent children were overweight, the study said.

The absence of nationally representative data and the lack of consistency between studies of the classification of obesity in children limits our ability to look at either the comparative prevalence or the trends in childhood obesity both in developed and developing societies, an Indian expert pointed out.

The American Heart Association Dietary Guidelines (2000) recommends "to limit foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol; and substitute unsaturated far vegetables, fish, legumes, and nuts." It has also given nuts a more predominant role than in the past.

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