Obesity is big: physically, of course, but also in terms of business for multinationals peddling instantly gratifying junk and pharmaceutical biggies telling the cure.
Obesity is bad for individuals who are, well, obese: it decreases productivity and increases the risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and certain cancers. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2008, 1.5 billion adults, 20 and older, were overweight globally. Of them, over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese. This is a visibl huge market and the amount of money to be made from a successful anti-obesity drug can only be dreamt of. This write-up will, however, not go into the medical aspect of the battle of/for the bulge.
So, why are we fat in the first place?
More and more people in the developing world are becoming overweight or obese. Significant increases in the prevalence of obesity are being reported from numerous developing countries. Childhood obesity is already epidemic in some areas and on the rise in others. According to WHO estimates, nearly 43 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2010. Once considered a high-income-country problem, overweight and obesity are now on the rise in low- and middle-income countries as well, particularly in urban settings. Close to 35 million overweight children are living in developing countries and 8 million in developed countries.
Why is it getting easier and easier to be very fat? Is it simply because there is more money to buy more food – food that is not necessarily healthy – and less time or inclination for physical activity? The more money we have, the more cheap food we are eating”is that it? Ask me how many packets of potato chips and McDonald’s aloo tikki burger (INR 25) I consume in a month. Look at the hustle and bustle at a random McDonald’s outlet, observe how adults and children greedily gobble down their prized burgers and fries and colas, and you will know redemption is not near at hand. Never mind the ‘nutrition’ angle that the company has tagged to their offerings.
Various studies have pointed out that, increasingly, abundance and under-nutrition are cohabiting in well-to-do, urban householdspaces. As outlined by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the spectrum of malnutrition encompasses the entire range of problems that can occur when dietary energy and/or nutrient intake are insufficient, excessive, or simply imbalanced.
At one end of the spectrum is the problem of under-nourishment and under-nutrition, often described in terms of macronutrients. Low dietary energy supply, wasting, stunting, underweight, and
low body mass index (BMI) are all used to identify the problem. This energy deficit leaves its victims prone to illness and early death; it also makes them listless and unable to concentrate. At the other end of the spectrum is the problem of over-nourishment, leading to overweight and obesity. A high BMI is one indicator of the problem. Already a well-known phenomenon in developed countries, obesity is increasing among new urban dwellers in the developing world. This issue has not been given much attention in developing countries because of the more compelling problems at the other end of the scale. However, the consequences of obesity can be as serious as the consequences ofunderweight.
Malnutrition is not simply caused by a lack of food overall, but by a lack of high-quality foods. A high-quality diet leading to optimal nutrition should contain sufficient energy and nutrients, but also limit the amount of saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, sodium, and added sugars.
However, the foods that we love are more concentrated in sugars, saturated fats, and salt, but low in vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients. Our consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grain cereals is relatively low. So, the ratio is not balanced at all. And look at the attitude and words we adopt: e.g., one ‘denies’ oneself the supreme pleasures of life if one is not eating soaked-in-oil-and-sugar food. Then, for many middle class Indian families looking for ways to feel city-fied, it is ‘cool’ to be seen at a McDonald’s (no offence meant: the constant reference to the brand is due to its ubiquitous presence and popularity).
There are many factors dictating changes and perceptions with regard to our diets: globalization of trade, information, and culture; technological changes in food production, processing, and distribution; new patterns of food retailing; higher incomes; demographic shifts; and urban growth. The rapid emergence of supermarkets is a direct factor in influencing the nutrition transition in the urban world. Supermarkets are major channels for the sales of highly processed foods and in this context, it is important to understand the impact of supermarkets on food consumption habits and look at supermarkets as a medium (and message) to improve diet quality.
In 2004, the 192 member states of World Health Organization called for action on the nutrition transition. The Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health requests countries to implement policies promoting healthier diets alongside malnutrition reduction. To facilitate the development of such policies, the strategy calls for more research on the production, availability, processing, and consumption of food.
WHO says that the food industry can play a significant role in promoting healthy diets by: (a) reducing the fat, sugar, and salt content of processed foods; (b) ensuring that healthy and nutritious choices are available and affordable to all consumers; (c) practising responsible marketing; and (d) ensuring the availability of healthy food choices. That said, people need to have the money to afford healthier foods as well as active discouragement not to choose less-healthy options that may be cheaper and more convenient.
In our skewed world, ‘healthy’ is expensive, premium, exclusive. At least, it is positioned as such. Thus, the moment we think ‘organic’, one of the first things that comes to mind is that this will involve switching over to a more expensive lifestyle. Organic is trendy and not affordable for everyone. It is so trendy that hardly anyone stops to look at the irony there. Organic farming is the opposite of industrialized farming; organic means the absence of synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers”all moderns inputs that are costly; organic food is not processed with chemical additives or ionizing radiation. Basically, there is no costly addition. Yet, by virtue of its rarity, it has become a specialization. In other words, going back to where we come from is no simple or cheap matter.
Junk is cheap, even dirt cheap at times. And they are available everywhere. Fact is, cold policies and hot pizzas have served to add fat to the matter.
