THE PROBLEM OF OVER WEIGHT/OBESITY

The problem of overweight and obesity are not confined to developed world. It is

expanding throughout the world. The World Health Organization (WHO, 1998)

has declared through its report that the overweight ratio has increased to more than

one billion and some three hundred millions of those are obese in various

categories. The obesity ratio in China is less than five percent but its variation

fluctuate up to seventy five percent in countries like few African nations, Japan

and Urban Samoa etc.

Throughout the world more than twenty two million children of less than five years

age are overweight and one hundred and fifty five million school age children are

also overweight.

A review published in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity (2006)

declared that some areas of Western Pacific, Europe and North America have

alarming overweight problems in children approximately twenty to thirty percent.

Those countries which are growing economically in recent times such as Egypt,

Mexico, Chile and Brazil are also on their way to face the issue of obesity as fully

industrialized countries are facing. According to the present secular mode of

international system and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF)’s criteria

experts’ guesstimate that in 2010 obesity in American children will be fifteen

percent. While obese children percentage in European regions and Eastern

Mediterranean will be ten percent.

WHO believe that internationally obesity is one of the top ten causes of

preventable death? Malnutrition and sex without safety are causes of more deaths

but obesity, high cholesterol, smoking, and high blood pressure are badly affecting

the health in both developed and developing countries. In 2003 a joint consultation

of FAO and WHO experts was conducted. The agenda of the consultation was

Diet, Nutrition and the Preventable Chronic Diseases. According to the experts of

this consultation Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) for example various forms

of cancers, stroke, hypertension, diabetes and obesity etc accounted for sixty

percent that is (55.7) million deaths in year 2000. If proper policy measures are not

being taken in time, NCDs will contribute seventy five percents of all deaths by the

year 2020.