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World's overfed population rivals the hungry masses
WASHINGTON. Mar 6: For the first time in recorded history. the world's overweight population now rivals the number of underfed people according to a new report released Saturday by a Washington-based environmental thinktank. reports IPS
As the world's underfed population declined slightly since 1980 to 1.2 billion, the number of people defined as overweight has surged to 1.2 billion, says the Worldwatch Institute.
Urbanisation, increases in prosperity, and other social factors, have led to increases In obesity and overeating, evening many developing countries, if
says. While affluence this last century bypassed millions of people, it also swept millions to new diets that were bountiful, but usually not rich in nutri-
"Often. nations have simply traded hunger for obesity, anil diseases of poverty for diseases of excess." says Brian Halwell. co-author of the report
In China, the share of adults who are overweight Jumped by more than half-Trom nine per cent to 15 per cent between 1989 and 1992. In Brazil and Colombia, for example. 36 and 41 per cent, respectively, of the population is overweight. These levels match those of many Euro-
. pean countries.
"Traditional diets featuring grains and vegetables gave way to urban patterns of eating foods heavy In fat and sugar, even as a shift to sedentary work and leisure activities demanded fewer calories." says Worldwatch.
It is now not uncommon for the overweight populations in many developing countries to exceed the underweight population.
"Still struggling to eradicate Infectious diseases, many developing nations' healthcare systems could be crippled by growing cases of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other
chronic Illnesses associated with overeating." he says
While there have been some health gains from modest declines In hunger worldwide, this Is has been offset by increases In overeating. While the specific health consequences of hunger and over of hunger and overeating can be very different, both the overweight and underfed suffer from malnutrition. a deficiency or excess in person's Intake’ of nutrients and other dietary elements needed for health living.
"The hungry and the overweight share high levels of sickness and disability, shortened life expectancies, and
lower levels of productivity-each of which is a drag on a country's development, says Gary Gardner, another author of the report.
The public Impact is enor-mous. according to Worldwatch. More than half of the world's disease burden-measured in "years of health life lost' Is attributable to hunger. overeating and widespread vitamin and mineral deficiencies, it says.
"Both developed and developing nations arc paying a high price for malnutrition" caused by both hunger and overeating, says (he report. Worldwatch cites World Bank estimates that
hunger cost India between three to nine per cent of its GDP in 1996.
Meanwhile in the United States, where 55 per cent of the adults are overweight by international standards, obesity cost the country 12 per cent of the national health care budget in the late 1990s, 118 billion dollars. The report points out that this is more than double the 47 billion dollars attributable to smoking related illnesses in that country.
Using the number of underweight children as a measuring stick, it becomes apparent that hunger in the developing world has fallen.