ICMR – National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) will conduct a fresh study on obesity in India. This would be the fifth report on obesity by NIN as they have conducted research on the same topic in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2018 as well. Now let’s find out what other studies have told us on obesity in India.
What different studies tell about obesity in India.
As per NFHS – 5 (2019) survey there are 24 % women and 22.9 % men are overweight or obese, which is 4 % higher than last survey conducted NFHS-4 (2015-16). Study conducted by Niyantrita Madhumeha Bharata (Control of Diabetes in India) 2017 reveals that the prevalence of obesity in India is much higher (40.3%) . Zonal data suggest the south has the highest (46.51%) and east has the lowest (32.96 %) obease people.
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The last study conducted by National Institute of nutrition (NIN) in 2016, counts 16.6 cr people of the country as obese or overweight. Meanwhile, National Health Profile 2020 suggests the prevalence of obesity among adult females (18+ years of age) has increased from 2.3% in 2000 to 5.1% in 2015.
World is becoming obese
WHO reports, “Most of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight’’. The estimates also suggest that obesity in the world has tripled in 40 years between 1975 and 2016. In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults aged 18 years and older were overweight and out of them 650 million adults were obese.
It also mentions that it is no longer a high-income country problem, obesity is becoming prevalent in low- & Middle-income countries as well. In 2019, almost half of the world overweight or obese were living in Asia.
Risk Factor associated with Obesity and overweight
WHO suggests that high value of BMI is a major risk factor associated with Cardiovascular diseases, Diabetes, musculoskeletal disorder and some forms of cancers as well.
In the year 2000 one out of four deaths (24.3 %) of reported deaths are categorised as Disease of Circulatory system (Cardiovascular diseases), which has shot up to 1/3rd (32.7 %) in 2019.
The difference between Obesity and Overweight, check your BMI
In medical terms, the overweight and obesity is a condition when abnormal or excessive fat accumulated in the body that may affect health. There is a significant difference between these two conditions. When Body Mass Index (BMI) is greater than or equal to 25, WHO calls it overweight and if BMI is greater than or equal to 30, it is Obesity. Body Mass Index (BMI) is defined as a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters (kg/m2).
