World is fat, India slim

The gym hour squeezed in between hectic work schedules is paying dividends for the Indian man. In an ego booster, a latest study published in British medical journal The Lancet has found that while the world has grown fatter with one in 10 people battling obesity, Indian men have become slimmer.

According to the study, obesity nearly doubled between 1980 and 2008 worldwide, but India was not part of the unwanted growth. It is still among the 30% countries whose populations have a lower body mass index (BMI).

In fact, Indian men have become slimmer over the years. Calculations on the basis of BMI found that obesity levels among Indian men and women were 20.99 and 21.30 in 2008.

This is low since people with BMI around 23 alone are considered overweight and those with 25 BMI obese. In 1980, BMI of Indian women was 20.51, while that of Indian men was 21.09.

Anoop Misra, director, department of internal medicine and metabolic diseases, Fortis Hospital (Delhi), said though no nationwide surveys have been conducted, obesity prevalence in India was roughly 10-15%.

“It is higher in urban areas where about 30-60% people will be considered obese, while in rural areas it [obesity] is less than 10%,” he said, adding that since India has a majority rural population, it balances out nationally.

Chinese men and women too were on the slimmer side with a BMI of 22.93.
“Male BMI in the two most-populated countries was lower than the world average in 2008, by 0.9 kg/m2; in China and 2.8 kg/m2 in India. Male BMI in China increased faster than the global mean, but in India, the trend was estimated to be flat. Mean female BMI was lower than the global average by 1.2 kg/m2 in China and by 2.8 kg/m2 in India; increase in female BMI was less than the global average in both countries [figure appendix]. Despite the increases in BMI, both countries were among the 30% with the lowest male and female mean BMI in 2008,” the report said.

Developed nations such as the US saw the highest number of people becoming obese over the last 30 years, followed by New Zealand. American women and men had a BMI of 28.33 and 28.46.

Japan had the lowest BMI, followed by Singapore.

Globally, 9.8% of men and 13.8% of women were obese [with a BMI above 30 kg/m2] in 2008, compared to 4.8% men and 7.9% women in 1980. The general trend is that women are more obese than men. An estimated 205 million men and 297 million adult women were obese in the world in 2008.
The same study also found that blood pressure and cholesterol levels changed across the world between 1980 and 2008.

According to professor Majid Ezzati, senior author of the study from School of Public Health at Imperial College, London, results showed that overweight and obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol were no longer Western problems or problems of wealthy nations.

Their presence has shifted towards low- and middle-income countries, making them global problems. He said measures such as reducing salt content in prepared foods could make a big impact in lowering blood pressure and cholesterol rates.