Today overweight and obesity has become an increasing problem all over the world, but mostly so in the Western Culture. According to WHO there are just as many people today, who die of diseases caused by overweight and obesity as of starvation. Overweight and obesity is not a disease itself, but it can cause many serious diseases and can give much pain. Because of this overweight and obesity is often called lifestyle related illnesses. Overweight and obesity can lead to illnesses like arthritis, high blood pressure, gallstone and some types of cancer. For women it can also lead to illness in the ovary and can give problems with getting pregnant.
Overweight and obesity are usually measured using body mass index (BMI) to judge whether a person is an appropriate weight for their height. Generally, a BMI score of between 20 and 25 defines a “healthy weight”, between 25 and 29 defines “overweight” and a BMI of 30 or over defines “obesity”. However, these cut offs are not appropriate for everyone, for example pregnant women, athletes and some ethnic groups. Obese people live in average nine years less than people with health weight.
Comparison:
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UK |
India |
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Figure: Dark blue: overweight and obese men, yellow: overweight and obese women, light blue: overweight women, red: overweight men.
These statistics shows us that UK has more problems with overweight and obesity than India. We think that may be because of the economy and culture differences between the two countries. In the UK most people have the money to by as much food they want. They also have access to more fast-food, and choose to eat unhealthy food, and therefore they gain weight. In India on the other hand many people have just enough money to buy the food they need, or maybe even less.
