Asian obesity rising with wealth 
19-Dec-06
IN SWANKY shopping malls of India's capital, finding a seat at food court restaurants offering everything from pizzas and burgers to chapatis can chew up much of a lunch hour.
At weekends, they pour out of their middle-class neighbourhoods and make a beeline for fast food outlets, queuing up to pile plastic trays with tasty meals that are often saturated in fat.
Children especially pack their favourite fast food outlets, waistlines bulging out of low-cut jeans. As a result, obesity among India's 300 million-strong middle-class is on the rise and dieticians warn kids in particular must change eating habits now or risk serious health problems in the future.
``It's a very serious condition as obesity can lead to diabetes, heart disease and early heart attacks,'' says Ashok Jhingan, chairman of the Delhi Diabetes Research Centre.
``Many teenage girls are already suffering from diseases like polycystic ovarian syndrome and other children have hypertension,'' Jhingan explains.
Obesity, usually seen as a quintessentially Western phenomenon, is fast becoming a major health problem in rapidly developing countries like India and China, where fatter wallets are changing lifestyles.
About 17 per cent of 2,000 teenagers living in New Delhi, aged 14 to 18, recently surveyed by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) were obese or overweight, suggesting prevalence above a global average of 15 per cent for all children.
A recent survey by Hewitt Associates, a human resources consultancy, showed wages in India, Asia's fourth-largest economy, rose 13.8 per cent in 2006, the highest in the region. Middle class parents can now take home over US$22,000 annually.
``India's economic liberalisation in the early 1990s has brought a lot of western ways of living which we didn't have before,'' says Anoop Misra, director of the Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases department at New Delhi's Fortis hospital and the author of the AIIMS study.
``This includes the mushrooming of fast food restaurants and increased availability of snacks like crisps and chocolates which have increased the carbohydrate and fat intake of children.''
Obesity is linked to type II or adult-onset diabetes. India is the diabetes capital of world with around 37 million cases 20 per cent of the global figure. If trends continue, the World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts by 2030 India will have around 80 million diabetics out of a world figure of 366 million.
``Diabetes was once considered a disease of older people but now we are seeing younger and younger people coming into the hospital with diabetes,'' says Joe Curian, who runs Mumbai's SL Raheja Hospital.
``We've had 14-year-old children coming in with (type II) diabetes,'' he says.
Doctors say while there is growing awareness of health risks associated with overeating and lack of exercise, most people don't see overweight children as being a serious health concern.
In a fast food restaurant in south Delhi, Monica Seth sits down for lunch with her son, Karan, 11, who weighs 65 kg.
``We've ordered pizzas,'' says Seth, a 34-year-old marketing professional. ``I know it's not the best option, but Karan isn't overweight, he's just healthy.''
In London, Christmas pickings will be leaner this year for several overweight children primed to fill up on healthy food such as brussels sprouts and fruit instead of extra helpings of turkey stuffing and pudding.
``Last year, in my stocking I had lots of chocolates. This year I just want toys and healthy stuff,'' says 10-year-old Charlie Siggins, who meets with 10 other overweight and obese children twice a week to learn about nutrition and exercise.
Classmate Brooke Ivers, 11, chips in: ``I'm not going to eat too much junk.'' Bad diet and inactivity is pushing up obesity rates in England, where 19 per cent of boys and 18 per cent of girls aged two to 15 were classed as obese in 2004, a 50 per cent increase in child obesity rates compiled in 1995. Carrying extra weight can lead to health problems such as heart disease, diabetes or
Obesity in Asia 
Linear Mode
