Obesity has grown faster in rural areas than in urban in the past three decades, a global study has revealed highlighting the changing lifestyle and its impending health implications in villages.
Two endocrinologists from Kashmir have been a part of thestudy.
Last week, research published in the leading science journalNature brought to fore the spike in obesity levels among rural populations.
The study led by Imperial College of London is based onanalysis of data from 112 million adults across the world spanning more thanthree decades between 1985 and 2017.
Dr Abdul Hameed Zargar and Dr Shariq Masoodi, notedendocrinologists from Kashmir, have contributed data for the study that hasmapped how in rural areas the rate of obesity growth is much faster incomparison with the rise overweight people in urban areas.
The study had about 20 contributing centers from acrossIndia.
It found faster or equivalent growth in BMI (body-massindex) in rural areas of low and middle income countries like India.
“These trends have resulted in a closing—and in somecountries reversal—of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas …especiallyfor women,” the study findings state.
Dr Zargar said that obesity in J&K was getting worseevery decade, and to make things worse, the onset of obesity is now occurringat lower age.
“What was earlier considered an urban phenomenon, obesityhas now taken rural areas by storm as well, thanks to the sedentary lifestylesand changing diet patterns,” Dr Zargar said, blaming high calorie diet intakeand reduction in physical activity among rural populations, especially women asthe root cause of the “epidemic”.
Dismissing the perception of household or office work asactivity, Dr Zargar said, “Being busy does not mean one is spending calories.People need to move, run, exercise.”
He said that the expenditure of energy that was taking placethrough physical activity has slowly been taken over by gadgets and machines,drastically reducing the calorie spend, while the intake has remained the same.
“The reason behind the staggering rise in diabetes, cardiacailments and Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD) in Kashmir is primarily due torise in obesity levels,” Dr Zargar said.
Dr Shariq Masoodi said that the data made it clear how, overthe years, changes in lifestyle in rural areas have contributed to growth inobesity.
He said while area specific and individual specificinvestigations would reveal the exact cause of obesity, the rule of the thumbwas simple: imbalance between calorie intake and calories expenditure.
“Obesity can be decoded simply as eating more than what onespends or spending less than what one eats,” Dr Masoodi said.
Detailing out his experience regarding obesity in ruralpopulations, Dr Masoodi said, “Earlier, farming was the primary occupation inrural areas, and it was labour intensive where men and women would toil hard inthe fields.”
The advent of mechanised farming where there are machinesfor de-weeding, harvesting and de-husking and the change in livelihood patternswhere more and more people are taking up sedentary occupations, has added kilosto the bodies of people, Dr Masoodi explained.
The study, the endocrinologists said, has illustrated howawareness and early interventions to reduce obesity can help in evading aplethora of diseases.
“Kashmir needs to gear up to fight obesity, in rural and inurban areas and the first step is to weigh the activity and diet balance of anindividual,” Dr Masoodi said.