Obesity
OBESITY has become a major global health problem, and the health risks substantially increases in prevalence. Not only is obesity increasing, but, no national success story has been reported in the past 33 years.
Urgent global action and leadership is needed to help countries to intervene more effectively with regular monitoring of changes in overweight and obesity prevalence in all populations.
In the Lancet's studies in 2010, overweight and obesity were estimated to cause 3.4 million deaths, 3.9 per cent of years of life lost, and 3.8 per cent of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) worldwide. Obesity-related diseases include high blood pressure, diabetes, heart diseases, high cholesterol levels, cancer, infertility, back pain, ulcer, skin infection and gallstone.
The study also quantified years of life lost to obesity. Obesity reduces life expectancy by up to eight years and deprives adults of up to 19 years of healthy life as a result.
Worldwide, the proportion of adults with a body-mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m² or greater increased between 1980 and 2013 from 28.8 per cent to 36.9 per cent in men, and from 29.8 per cent to 38.0 per cent in women.
Prevalence has increased substantially in children and adolescents in developed countries, with 23.8 per cent of boys and 22.6 per cent of girls being overweight or obese in 2013.
The prevalence of the overweight and obese has also increased in children and adolescents in developing countries, from 8.1 per cent to 12.9 per cent in 2013 for boys, and from 8.4 per cent to 13.4 per cent for girls.
In adults, the estimated prevalence of obesity exceeded 50 per cent in men in Tonga, and in women in Kuwait, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Libya, Qatar, Tonga, and Samoa.
Since 2006, the increase in adult obesity in developed countries has slowed down, which is a good sign.
In Malaysia, the 2014 National Health Morbidity Survey data revealed that 20.7 per cent of adults were overweight, and 5.8 per cent were obese (0.3 per cent of whom had BMI values of more than 40.0 kg/m2. The prevalence of obesity was clearly greater in women than in men. In women, obesity rates were higher in Indian and Malay women than in Chinese women, while in men the Chinese recorded the highest obesity prevalence followed by the Malay and Indians.
The escalation of obesity, once thought to be an urban phenomenon, has now spread to the rural population at an alarming rate. As Malaysia proceeds rapidly towards a developed economy status, the health of its population will probably continue to deteriorate.
Therefore, a national strategy needs to be developed to tackle both dietary and activity contributors to the excess weight-gain of the Malaysian population, starting with our school children, who are fond of fastfood and the sedentary lifestyle of playing computer games, especially as our playing fields are disappearing for commercial reasons. Obesity in our children contributes to an early age of diseases such as diabetes, with some becoming insulin-dependent from an early age, which affects our country’s health and human capital for our nation development.
C. Sathasivam Sitheravellu,
Seremban, Negri Sembilan