Our planet is being threatened by an increasingly fat population. Researchers this week have gone as far to say that obesity could burden the Earth’s resources as much as a billion extra people would.
What is more alarming about the study, conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and published in the BMC Public Health journal, is that for the first time, the problem has been identified not in terms of hunger, but in terms of biomass.
North America, with only 6% of the world’s population, for instance, leads the table, with more than one-third of its people defined as obese.
Qatar, Kuwait, Croatia and Egypt are some of the others in the top 10 weighty nations’ list.
The study put the total weight of the planet at 287mn tonnes. They estimate that 15mn tonnes of this mass is due to people being overweight, and 3.5mn tonnes due to obesity.
A heavier body requires more energy, obtained from food, both in its active and restive states.
To an extent, the change in lifestyle in the Arabian Gulf, and the increased use of the automobile has also contributed to rising obesity levels here.
The study also examined the relationship between motor vehicle fuel consumption as a determinant of average body mass index, which is why Arab nations figure so high in the obesity stakes.
Last year, the International Association for the Study of Obesity ranked Qatar as sixth in the global index. Qatar was also found to have the highest rate of obesity among boys in the Middle East.
Problems related to obesity and overeating kill more people than those related to hunger and malnourishment, the 2011 study revealed.
With the globalised culture of fast food making inroads into the Gulf’s markets, more children are exposed to readymade food with high levels of sugar, trans-fats and cholesterol at an earlier age than before.
Much of younger population of Gulf countries spends its time indoors, either due to the extreme temperatures, or due to a combination of lifestyle factors such as working parents who are unable to spend time with their children, or a lack of open spaces for physical activity.
The “super-size” portions available in the region’s restaurants are popular; but rarely do the menu cards provide calorie counts and other nutrition information.
The US has recently started acknowledging its obesity problem, through several initiatives, most notably First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” fitness programme for children. New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg, recently proposed a ban on sugary drink servings over 16 ounces, that is still being debated.
But more than an individual health problem, obesity has to be viewed as a societal issue that needs to be tackled keeping the influences of environment, biology and behaviour in mind.