French fries and fat kids - Asia’s next epidemic
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Popular belief has it that obesity only affects wealthier societies where food is plentiful: the curse of the developed world epitomized by hulking Americans that struggle to order their king-size Big Mac, French Fries and Coke without breaking sweat.
Obesity is no longer exclusive to the developed world
The reality is a very different. Obesity and its associated diseases - diabetes, hypertension and kidney diseases – respect neither wealth nor class and strike instead into the heart of every society where there is easy access to convenience food, low physical activity and ubiquitous advertisements for sugar-fat-salt-rich food.
Heart disease, stroke, cancer and other chronic diseases associated with poor diet and low exercise have now made serious inroads into the lives of people in poor and middle-income nations. In total, these accounted for 80% (28 million) of the cases of chronic illness in 2005, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which fears that a further 388 million people will die from such illnesses over the next ten years.
China, too, has an emerging epidemic with one or two pockets of high incidence. Overall, obesity levels range from under 5% to almost 20% in some areas, according to regional surveys conducted during 2003. Most concerning, however, is high prevalence among the young. In Wuhan Province 8.9% of 10-12 year-olds were classified as obese by the study. Some areas, such as Beijing, also suggest that there is a gender perspective to the epidemic. In the capital more than 10% of 10-12 year old boys were obese – more than three times the rate for girls in the same study.
Responsibilities are divided
The existence of a genetic predisposition to obesity would provide a straight-forward explanation for the world’s growing stock of rotund individuals, but the precise causes of obesity are multiple.
Changing diets have clearly contributed to the development of the pandemic, driven by the move towards food processing that relies heavily on high injections of sugar and salt. Recent research by The Thai Health Promotion Foundation, for example, found that more than 90% of its sample of 700 pre-packed foods to contain excessive levels of sugar, fat and salt – a cocktail that can lead to diabetes and hypertension as well as obesity.
Choice, of course, enables informed individuals to avoid (or moderate their consumption of) foods that are known to have damaging health effects, but bad labeling, the study suggests, does not help in the decision-making process. Just one third of the sample in Thailand, for example, managed to provide adequate nutritional information on their packaging or list ingredients. Where available, say researchers, labels also tended to use small fonts and present information in a way that is difficult to understand. At least part of the blame, therefore, lies with the food industry itself.
For now, young Thais have refrained from overindulgence in burgers and chips on account of taste. But tastes are changing and so is the food industry. Pizza Hut (aka Pizza Company in Thailand) has already rewritten its menu to include a Tum Yum Kung (spicy prawn soup) variety. Western convenience food, which contains 3 or 4 times more fat, sugar and salt than healthier local Thai snacks, is now thought to pose one of the greatest dangers to a country of “snackers.”
Catering to oriental taste in order to boost market share is only one dimension of the corporate weaponry. Intensive marketing activity now mostly targets children and changing cultural values now mean that a visit to see Ronald McDonald has become a symbol of growing affluence and status. The price of a Big Mac in Bangkok (the equivalent of USD 1.5 or Baht 60) may cover the food costs of one meal for a family of four, but younger Thais are prepared to splash out on junk-food if it means impressing friends – especially girlfriends. Similar trends are noted throughout many of China’s larger central and eastern metropolises. Shopping malls in Cambodia also house fashionable western eateries that only the privileged can afford.
Obesity ought not to be a problem affecting children, but cases as young as 3 are not exceptional. And for those that then become obese adults the risks (particularly in developing countries) have alarming potential – an increasing susceptibility to illness coupled with reliance on fragile health care systems that may not be able to offer or afford treatment. In China, there is only a very basic social safety net and hospitals are run like profit-making concerns: Only those that can afford treatment receive treatment
Child obesity is expected to soar worldwide according to the International journal of Pediatric obesity, and could start to erode health gains in many countries. Both morbidity and cases of premature death are expected to rise over the next decade costing the economies of China, India and Russian billion of dollars according to the WHO. China alone will lose $558 billion over the next 10 years of its national income due to heart disease, stroke and diabetes. And other important Asian economies - Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and others – are fast reaching western levels of development and consumption.
Political will and increased public awareness will decide whether obesity is here to stay or go, according to Prof. Philip James, the chair of the London-based International Obesity Task Force (IOTF).
“It is noticeable,” he says, “that the public and Ministers readily accept the problem of obesity in adults…..then often and very conveniently blame the individual for their predicament rather than questioning whether their obesity reflects the impact of deliberate policy and industrial developments over the last few decades.”
While the political elite ponder their next move a coalition of five international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – known as the Global Prevention Alliance – has already pledged new action worldwide to combat obesity-driven chronic diseases. Obesity, the alliance says, ranks alongside HIV/AIDS in terms of importance and impact.
“Cutting death rates alone will not be enough,” according to Prof. James, adding that “No health system or economy can afford the cost of spiraling cases of chronic disease. The only way to address this is to recognize the need to revolutionise our approach to delivering healthier diets and reducing consumption of the foods high in fats, sugar and salt.”
Obesity is a new challenge for countries like China, which suffered a major famine in 1961, suffered routine food shortages until the mid-70s and received food aid from the World Food Programme until 2005. But a solution is not out of reach. As many as 80% of the cases of premature heart disease, stroke and type-2 diabetes could be prevented by a healthy diet according to the WHO. Missing only is the political will to legislate, educate and take on the powerful Food Industry.
Homepage photo by Afdn
The Author: Roger Tatoud holds a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology. He has worked in North Africa as a teacher and Europe as a scientist, volunteer fundraiser for an HIV/AIDS organisation and, most recently, as programme coordinator for a project that tackles insulin resistance and obesity.
Obesity is no longer exclusive to the developed world
The reality is a very different. Obesity and its associated diseases - diabetes, hypertension and kidney diseases – respect neither wealth nor class and strike instead into the heart of every society where there is easy access to convenience food, low physical activity and ubiquitous advertisements for sugar-fat-salt-rich food.
Heart disease, stroke, cancer and other chronic diseases associated with poor diet and low exercise have now made serious inroads into the lives of people in poor and middle-income nations. In total, these accounted for 80% (28 million) of the cases of chronic illness in 2005, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which fears that a further 388 million people will die from such illnesses over the next ten years.
Photo by Malias
China, too, has an emerging epidemic with one or two pockets of high incidence. Overall, obesity levels range from under 5% to almost 20% in some areas, according to regional surveys conducted during 2003. Most concerning, however, is high prevalence among the young. In Wuhan Province 8.9% of 10-12 year-olds were classified as obese by the study. Some areas, such as Beijing, also suggest that there is a gender perspective to the epidemic. In the capital more than 10% of 10-12 year old boys were obese – more than three times the rate for girls in the same study.
Responsibilities are divided
The existence of a genetic predisposition to obesity would provide a straight-forward explanation for the world’s growing stock of rotund individuals, but the precise causes of obesity are multiple.
Changing diets have clearly contributed to the development of the pandemic, driven by the move towards food processing that relies heavily on high injections of sugar and salt. Recent research by The Thai Health Promotion Foundation, for example, found that more than 90% of its sample of 700 pre-packed foods to contain excessive levels of sugar, fat and salt – a cocktail that can lead to diabetes and hypertension as well as obesity.
Choice, of course, enables informed individuals to avoid (or moderate their consumption of) foods that are known to have damaging health effects, but bad labeling, the study suggests, does not help in the decision-making process. Just one third of the sample in Thailand, for example, managed to provide adequate nutritional information on their packaging or list ingredients. Where available, say researchers, labels also tended to use small fonts and present information in a way that is difficult to understand. At least part of the blame, therefore, lies with the food industry itself.
Photo by Malingering
For now, young Thais have refrained from overindulgence in burgers and chips on account of taste. But tastes are changing and so is the food industry. Pizza Hut (aka Pizza Company in Thailand) has already rewritten its menu to include a Tum Yum Kung (spicy prawn soup) variety. Western convenience food, which contains 3 or 4 times more fat, sugar and salt than healthier local Thai snacks, is now thought to pose one of the greatest dangers to a country of “snackers.”
Catering to oriental taste in order to boost market share is only one dimension of the corporate weaponry. Intensive marketing activity now mostly targets children and changing cultural values now mean that a visit to see Ronald McDonald has become a symbol of growing affluence and status. The price of a Big Mac in Bangkok (the equivalent of USD 1.5 or Baht 60) may cover the food costs of one meal for a family of four, but younger Thais are prepared to splash out on junk-food if it means impressing friends – especially girlfriends. Similar trends are noted throughout many of China’s larger central and eastern metropolises. Shopping malls in Cambodia also house fashionable western eateries that only the privileged can afford.
Obesity ought not to be a problem affecting children, but cases as young as 3 are not exceptional. And for those that then become obese adults the risks (particularly in developing countries) have alarming potential – an increasing susceptibility to illness coupled with reliance on fragile health care systems that may not be able to offer or afford treatment. In China, there is only a very basic social safety net and hospitals are run like profit-making concerns: Only those that can afford treatment receive treatment
Child obesity is expected to soar worldwide according to the International journal of Pediatric obesity, and could start to erode health gains in many countries. Both morbidity and cases of premature death are expected to rise over the next decade costing the economies of China, India and Russian billion of dollars according to the WHO. China alone will lose $558 billion over the next 10 years of its national income due to heart disease, stroke and diabetes. And other important Asian economies - Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and others – are fast reaching western levels of development and consumption.
Photo by Robad0b
Political will and increased public awareness will decide whether obesity is here to stay or go, according to Prof. Philip James, the chair of the London-based International Obesity Task Force (IOTF).
“It is noticeable,” he says, “that the public and Ministers readily accept the problem of obesity in adults…..then often and very conveniently blame the individual for their predicament rather than questioning whether their obesity reflects the impact of deliberate policy and industrial developments over the last few decades.”
While the political elite ponder their next move a coalition of five international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – known as the Global Prevention Alliance – has already pledged new action worldwide to combat obesity-driven chronic diseases. Obesity, the alliance says, ranks alongside HIV/AIDS in terms of importance and impact.
“Cutting death rates alone will not be enough,” according to Prof. James, adding that “No health system or economy can afford the cost of spiraling cases of chronic disease. The only way to address this is to recognize the need to revolutionise our approach to delivering healthier diets and reducing consumption of the foods high in fats, sugar and salt.”
Obesity is a new challenge for countries like China, which suffered a major famine in 1961, suffered routine food shortages until the mid-70s and received food aid from the World Food Programme until 2005. But a solution is not out of reach. As many as 80% of the cases of premature heart disease, stroke and type-2 diabetes could be prevented by a healthy diet according to the WHO. Missing only is the political will to legislate, educate and take on the powerful Food Industry.
Homepage photo by Afdn
The Author: Roger Tatoud holds a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology. He has worked in North Africa as a teacher and Europe as a scientist, volunteer fundraiser for an HIV/AIDS organisation and, most recently, as programme coordinator for a project that tackles insulin resistance and obesity.
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lanbo78
发布于2009-05-26 19:30:51
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炸薯条和肥胖儿--亚洲的下一场流行病
很多人认为，过度肥胖问题困扰的仅仅是那些食品丰足的富裕国家，因为胖嘟嘟的美国人拼命点着麦当劳“巨无霸”、炸薯条和可口可乐的景象，已经成为发达世界的缩影。
过度肥胖问题已不再为发达国家独有
然而，事实却并不然。过度肥胖及与之相关的疾病，如糖尿病、高血压和肾脏疾病，并不在乎贫富和阶级差别，任何一个社会，只要方便食品唾手可得，只要人们缺少运动，只要高盐高脂高糖食品广告满天飞，都会遭到过度肥胖问题及相关疾病的困扰。
在一些中低收入国家，不合理的饮食和缺乏锻炼引起的心脏病、中风、癌症和其他慢性病，已经夺去了很多人的生命。根据世界卫生组织的调查，2005年这几类疾病患者数在所有慢性病患者中占80%（28,000,000）。该组织担心在未来十年里，将另有388,000,000人死于上述这些疾病。
Malias 摄
在东南亚各国，慢性病的发病率也是居高不下，在2005年所有死亡中占54%。世界卫生组织的有关人员说，泰国的情况尤其严重。根据他们的估计，在短短的两年时间里，5到12岁过度肥胖儿童数已从12.2%上升到了15.6%。过度肥胖通常是成年人的问题，但它却已在较贫困地区随处可见。在那些地区，与这种流行病有着密切关系的方便食品贵得让人望而却步。
在中国，过度肥胖也正在成为一场在局部地区发病率很高的流行病。2003年的一项区域调查结果显示，从总体上说，中国的过度肥胖率在不足5%到某些地区的20%之间。然而，最让人担心的是年轻人中过度肥胖症发病率高。根据这项调查，在武汉，有8.9%的10到12岁之间的儿童过度肥胖。北京等一些地区的调查结果还显示出过度肥胖与性别有关。10%的10到12岁北京男孩过度肥胖，这比在同一调查中的肥胖女孩数的3倍还多。
责任是多方面的
有些人天生容易发胖，这可以轻松地解释为什么全世界肥胖人口不断增加，但是导致过度肥胖的确切原因却不是单一的。
饮食变化对肥胖症流行的“贡献”非常显著。过度肥胖常常由食品加工过程中过多添加糖和盐引起。泰国健康促进基金会新近的一项研究发现，在对700种尚未包装食品的抽样中，超过90%的食品糖、脂肪和盐含量超标。这三种东西混合后将导致糖尿病、高血压和过度肥胖。
当然，知情者可以通过选择来避免（或减少）食用那些危害健康的食品，但是这项研究认为，拙劣的食品标签会妨碍人们作出正确的决定。例如，在泰国，只有三分之一的抽样食品在外包装上标注食品成分和有关营养方面的信息。研究者们说，就算是有标签，标签上的说明用的也是蝇头小字，而且信息介绍也常让人费解。因而，食品工业本身起码应该承担部分责任。
儿童面临的危险最大
现在，由于口味的变化，泰国的年轻人已经不再对汉堡和薯条嗜吃如命了。但是口味在变化，饮食业也在变化。在泰国的必胜客早已换了新的菜谱，增加了辣味虾汤 (Tum Yum Kung)。比起相对健康的泰国本地速食来，西方的方便食品中脂肪、糖、盐的含量多了3到4倍，它们已经被视为“速食者”之国面临的最大危险之一。
满足东方人的口味以便提高市场份额仅仅是经营策略的一个方面。现在频繁的市场营销活动主要瞄准的是儿童，文化价值观的变化也使得去麦当劳就餐成了生活日益富足和地位不断提高的一种标志。在曼谷，买一个麦当劳“巨无霸”的钱（相当于1.5美元或60铢）足够一个四口之家吃一顿饭。但是泰国的年轻人却会为了打动朋友，尤其是女朋友，而在垃圾食品上不惜重金。类似的潮流在中国中部和东部的许多大都市中也是随处可见。柬埔寨的很多大型购物中心也都设有时尚的西餐馆，那可是高收入者才去得起的地方。
过度肥胖本来不应该是儿童所要面临的问题，但是年龄只有3岁的肥胖儿童却也并不罕见。其中那些成年后又过度肥胖的人将面临很大的风险（尤其在发展中国家）——越来越容易得病，而且他们所依靠的医疗体系又很不健全，不能提供有效的、人们承担得起的治疗。中国只有非常基本的社会保障体系，医院也是唯利润是图，因此只有那些看得起病的人才能看病。
世界儿童肥胖研究杂志认为，全世界过度肥胖儿童的数量将会猛增，这会妨碍许多国家国民健康状况的改善。世界卫生组织认为，在接下来的十年里，肿瘤患者和过早死亡人数将会有增无减，中国、印度和俄罗斯将因此而损失十亿美元。仅中国，就将因心脏病、中风和糖尿病而在未来十年里损失5580亿的国民收入。泰国、马来西亚、印度尼西亚和其他重要的亚洲国家的发展水平和消费水平正在与西方接近。
Robad0b 摄
不完整的答复
伦敦的世界过度肥胖任务组织主席菲利普·詹姆斯教授认为，政治意图和不断提高的公众意识将决定过度肥胖问题是否继续存在。
“很显然，”他说：“是公众和部长们欣然接受了成人过度肥胖的问题……然后他们又常常轻易地指责那些过度肥胖者的窘况，而从不去想想那些人的过度肥胖是否是由他们在过去的几十年里精心制定的政策和工业的发展所招致的。
政治精英们已考虑将5个国际性非政府组织结成联盟，名为全球预防同盟，它已宣称将在全世界范围内采取行动，控制由过度肥胖导致的慢性病。该同盟说，过度肥胖症具有和HIV/AIDS同等的重要性和危害性。
詹姆斯教授认为，仅仅靠减少死亡率是不够的，任何医疗体系和经济体制都承担不起慢性病患者螺旋式上升的费用。唯一的办法就是我们应该认识到我们必须彻底改变健康食品的供应方式和减少高脂高糖高盐食品的摄入量。
过度肥胖对于中国来说是一个新的挑战，因为中国在1961年遭受了严重的饥荒，直到70年代中期才解决必要食品短缺问题，直到2005年还接受世界粮食计划署的食品救济。但是，办法也还是有的。世界卫生组织的有关人员说，心脏病、中风、2型糖尿病的年轻患者中，有80%可以通过健康饮食来预防得病。现在唯一缺乏的是用政治力量来规范、教育和管理强大的食品工业。
首页图片由 Afdn 摄
作者简介：罗格•达汤德细胞及分子生物学博士。曾在非洲任教，在欧洲从事科学家工作，并为一个HIV/AIDS组织志愿筹款。最近，担任项目协调人，该项目主要处理胰岛素抗力和过度肥胖问题。
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ztjtmt
发布于2009-05-26 21:43:24
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看这篇文章时, 产生了我的思考, 写出来大家交流.
狗或者猫过了交配期后, 我们没看到它们有什么疾病产生,但是相对于人类来说,为什么爱滋病成了世界主要的疾病之一?
可能我们更多的是看到现象的表面,但透过本质,我们可能会发现很多病毒的诞生均来自于实验室.
再说,
科学家为了让植物或动物更有利于人所需要的要求发展,把小麦产量增大,猪肉养的更瘦,鸡肉长的更快
很多事物都已远离本来的那种成份,最终这也会给人类带来麻烦. .
人要有健全的体格必须要有健全的心态.
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tantan2006发布于2009-05-28 17:02:29
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一边饥肠辘辘,一边过度肥胖,问世间为何如此不公!
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xbsff发布于2009-06-03 12:24:24
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呵呵，等到什么时候发现自己的身体不行了，就知道要怎么吃了
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