Overweight now plaguing more women than underweight, even in poor nations
| March 08, 2005 | |
| CHAPEL HILL — In most countries, including developing nations, being overweight now afflicts more young women than being underweight, a new international study concludes.That pattern holds true even when comparing women from urban and rural areas, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study shows. The only exceptions remain in the poorest countries, where food is hardest to come by, and body mass still tends to reflect relative wealth.
A report on the research, which involved gathering and analyzing data from 148,579 people worldwide, appears in the March issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Authors, both in the nutrition department at the UNC schools of public health and medicine and members of the Carolina Population Center, are Drs. Michelle A. Mendez and Barry M. Popkin, research assistant professor and professor, respectively. Dr. Carlos A. Monteiro, an epidemiologist at Sao Paulo University in Sao Paulo, Brazil, also participated in the investigation. “We looked at overweight and underweight in women living in urban and rural areas of 36 developing countries,” Mendez said. “With the exception of India, Haiti and several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, we found that levels of overweight in general were much higher than levels of underweight in women. In fact, in half of the countries we included, levels of overweight among women living in rural areas were twice as high as levels of underweight.” The problem in urban areas was even more severe, she said. Eighty percent of the countries showed twice as much overweight as underweight in cities and towns. “Although under-nutrition is a persistent problem, particularly in children in the poorest countries, many developing countries need to begin to address overweight and obesity in adults,” Mendez said. “These data show that efforts to prevent being overweight need to reach beyond urban settings, especially in countries with higher income and urbanization levels.” Data for the study came from standardized USAID/Macro Demographic Health surveys and national surveys conducted between 1992 and 2000 in the 36 countries, which included China, Egypt, Brazil, Mexico and 19 African nations. Analyses were limited to women between ages 20 and 49. “As the pandemic of overweight around the globe continues to rise, many developing countries face a double burden of over- and under-nutrition,” Popkin said. “We believe this work shows for the first time that the prevalence of overweight among young women in the developing world has reached alarming levels even in rural areas.” In this and related research, UNC researchers have shown the problem of obesity is rapidly increasing, particularly among the poor and has become a public health threat even in the world’s poorest nations, he said. “The economic and health consequences of this shift to greater obesity are enormous as the medical care costs, as well as increased sickness and disability and mortality from obesity, diabetes and heart disease, are rising sharply in these countries too,” Popkin said. Earlier UNC work suggested likely reasons for the unhealthy trend, he said. “Greater consumption of caloric sweeteners, edible vegetable oils and animal-source foods are the major dietary shifts leading to greater obesity,” Popkin said. “They go hand in hand as culprits with reduced activity at work and during travel and leisure.” The National Institutes of Health supported the research.
This release was researched and written by David Williamson of UNC News Services. Note: Contact Popkin at (919) 966-1732 or popkin@unc.edu. Mendez can be reached via cell phone at 011 34 618 326 540 or mmendez@email.unc.edu. News Services Contact: David Williamson, (919) 962-8596. For further information please contact Emily Smith either by phone at 919.966.8498 or by email at emily_smith@unc.edu |
