MBOMBELA – The National Obesity Awareness Week will be held between from October 15 to 19 and according to a new study published in the medical journal, The Lancet, South Africa has the highest overweight and obesity rate in sub-Saharan Africa.
The study also shows that seven out of 10 women and four out of 10 men have significantly more body fat than what is deemed healthy.
Ms Irene Labuschagne, a dietician at the faculty of medicine and health sciences of Stellenbosch University, said the rise in obesity rates has been rapid and widespread. “It presents a major public health epidemic in both the developed and developing world,” she added.
She also said that the rise of diet-related non-communicable diseases accounts for almost one third of the burden of disease in South Africa.
According to Labuschagne, different studies and surveys report different numbers, but the reported prevalence of overweight and obesity in South Africa is alarming.
“There are many reasons why people become obese,” says Labuschagne. “It is a complex condition affected by a host of factors.”
Studies show that obesity increases the risk for developing cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease increases when a person’s body mass index (BMI), exceeds 23.
For adults, overweight and obesity ranges are determined by using weight and height to calculate the BMI, which for most people correlates with the amount of body fat. An adult who has a BMI of between 25 and 29,9 is considered overweight and when the BMI is 30 or higher the person is considered obese.
In South Africa, as observed in many countries, the fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between energy consumed and energy expended, due to:
• An increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat or added sugars; and
• A decrease in physical activity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanisation/development.
She also said it is necessary to educate people to understand the causes and the risks of obesity and clear strategies are needed.
Labuschagne adds that the Department of Health realises the significance of the obesity crisis and has included this in the national non-communicable diseases strategic goals in order to alleviate the obesity problem in South Africa.
Specific goals include:
• Increase physical activity by 10 per cent 2020
• Reduce the consumption of alcohol by 20 per cent by 2020
• Reduce the percentage of people who are obese and/or overweight by 10 per cent by 2020.
Furthermore studies have shown that South African women do very little exercise and that many, particularly black women, associate being fat with wealth, health and success, while being thin is associated with being HIV-infected.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 1) also found that about 28 per cent of South African men and 45 per cent women are unfit, that one in five smoked and that over one in four women and one in five men have high cholesterol.
