Obesity Growing in the Developing World
The number of overweight and obese people has grown drastically in the past 30 years, going from 23% of the world’s population in 1980 to over a third today. Surprisingly to some, the majority of overweight and obese people live in developing countries. As globalization spreads and countries go from low-income to middle-income, people have more money to buy food. At the same time the access to cheap junk food full of fat, carbohydrates, sugar and salt is becoming readily available. As food gets tastier and cheaper, families in the developing world are consuming these products and steadily gaining weight.
Sharada Keats and Steven Wiggins from the Overseas Development Institute in London released a report on January 3rd called, “Future Diets.” This report summarizes research that shows that diets are changing. As incomes rise in the developing world people are moving from a diet that consists of cereals and tubers to diets that include meat, fat and sugar.
The portion sizes that people are eating are also going up.
These changes mean that the price of animal products will go up all over the world while prices for grains will go down. The agricultural crisis of not having enough grains to feed the poor may be replaced by a public health crisis as more people move to eating unhealthy diets.
Obesity is increasing throughout the developing world. Further, reports have noted that obesity has tripled in the developing world in the past 30 years.
Mexico is a good example of how globalization and higher incomes are impacting diets and waistlines of middle-income countries. In 1980, fewer than 40% of Mexicans were overweight or obese. Today that figure is more than 70%. In 1980 there were 250 million overweight and obese adults in the developing world. In 2008 those numbers have grown to 904 million.
This is a global health concern as unhealthy diets and weight gain put people at a large risk for a wide range of health conditions including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. This is going to place an increased burden on low and middle-income countries with already struggling health care systems. It will also cause economic difficulties and increased health care costs.
At the moment there seems to be little interest among the public and leaders to take action against the growing obesity problem. Keats and Wiggins suggest that as countries begin to face the serious health implications and economic problems associated with obesity they may consider investing in public education and policy changes as well. Conclusively, Keats and Wiggins suggest for a resolution that is a moderate combination of education, prices and regulation measures.
– Elizabeth Brown
