Photo: © DPA
Last Summer, The Lancet published a Series about Obesity and its impact on societies. We usually consider obesity as a health problem confined to developed countries, however recent data from the International Association for the Study of Obesity show that in many developing countries obesity rates have exceeded those in the developed world. We know obesity is a precursor state to several devastating non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer and it's urgent to find solutions to deal with the problem.
I've recently written about hunger and the importance of nutrition assistance programmes regarding the launch of the Hunger Report 2012, but obesity on the developing world is a new challenge scientists and policymakers shall face. The prevention programmes shall be designed having several specificities in mind. For example, in most developing countries, where hunger and malnutrition have been prevalent, over-nutrition of children and obesity are seen as a sign of health and prosper life. Initiatives to change this perception are very difficult to carry out, but there is no doubt about the urgency of preventing those children and their families from adopting wrong eating habits that can lead to devastating outcomes to their health. Those outcomes have brutal effects on healthcare systems. For example, in India, one in four families in which a family member has cardiovascular disease carries a financial burden that is much too heavy; as a result, 10 percent of these families are driven into poverty (see link bellow).
Certainly there are approaches to be made, but due to the complex biosocial origin of the problem, not all of them will be successful. For instance, intervention in children to prevent obesity have proven to be ineffective. A Cochrane review of interventions for treating childhood obesity concluded that “there is a limited amount of quality data on the components of programs to treat childhood obesity that favor one program over another. Further research that considers psychosocial determinants of behavior change, strategies to improve clinician-family interaction, and cost-effective programs for primary and community care is required.” But governments have a very important role to play. They can take effective actions such as taxing unhealthy foods (like Hungary did this year), mandating front-of-pack “traffic light” labeling and restricting TV advertising of junk food directed to children.
Fighting obesity is most of all about behavior changes, but fast food corporations and their seductive advertisement of cheap and tasty food shall not be forgotten. Citizens can only rely on their governments to protect them from such big corporations and specially the unhealthy food they want people to eat. The costs of obesity for health systems are (and will be) huge and emphasize the urgency to tackle that problem in order to avoid a bigger one. Populations must be better informed and must have the ability to choose as long as healthy food options are provided.
read more: Priority actions for the non-communicable disease crisis
read more: The Economic Implications of Non-Communicable Disease for India
I've recently written about hunger and the importance of nutrition assistance programmes regarding the launch of the Hunger Report 2012, but obesity on the developing world is a new challenge scientists and policymakers shall face. The prevention programmes shall be designed having several specificities in mind. For example, in most developing countries, where hunger and malnutrition have been prevalent, over-nutrition of children and obesity are seen as a sign of health and prosper life. Initiatives to change this perception are very difficult to carry out, but there is no doubt about the urgency of preventing those children and their families from adopting wrong eating habits that can lead to devastating outcomes to their health. Those outcomes have brutal effects on healthcare systems. For example, in India, one in four families in which a family member has cardiovascular disease carries a financial burden that is much too heavy; as a result, 10 percent of these families are driven into poverty (see link bellow).
Certainly there are approaches to be made, but due to the complex biosocial origin of the problem, not all of them will be successful. For instance, intervention in children to prevent obesity have proven to be ineffective. A Cochrane review of interventions for treating childhood obesity concluded that “there is a limited amount of quality data on the components of programs to treat childhood obesity that favor one program over another. Further research that considers psychosocial determinants of behavior change, strategies to improve clinician-family interaction, and cost-effective programs for primary and community care is required.” But governments have a very important role to play. They can take effective actions such as taxing unhealthy foods (like Hungary did this year), mandating front-of-pack “traffic light” labeling and restricting TV advertising of junk food directed to children.
Fighting obesity is most of all about behavior changes, but fast food corporations and their seductive advertisement of cheap and tasty food shall not be forgotten. Citizens can only rely on their governments to protect them from such big corporations and specially the unhealthy food they want people to eat. The costs of obesity for health systems are (and will be) huge and emphasize the urgency to tackle that problem in order to avoid a bigger one. Populations must be better informed and must have the ability to choose as long as healthy food options are provided.
read more: Priority actions for the non-communicable disease crisis
read more: The Economic Implications of Non-Communicable Disease for India
read more: Working Group Report on Future Research Directions in Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment
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