More “unhealthy” Indians than ever!

There was a time when we felt that USA had probably the highest number of obese people around. But now you look around you in India itself, observe when in a public place; you are sure to see more fat and unhealthy people that fit and healthy ones. Even children; we nowadays see more fat and obese ones. What’s happening in India? The land of yoga and Ayurveda and we have this unhealthy new generation?

There is statistics to back what we see. A report by the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), which functions under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), stated almost one-third to half of the men and women were seen suffering from weight and obesity-related problems.

The reason - glued to the chair for long hours in office, eating unhealthy food, drinking carbonated beverages and getting little time for exercise! It said only 28% of urban men and 15% of urban women participate in physical exercise.

The report stated, on an average, more than a fourth of urban men (28%) were doing physical exercise, mainly ‘walking’ (21%), ‘yoga’ (4%) and ‘floor exercise’ (2%). Similarly, 15% of women were participating in physical exercise which included walking (11%) and yoga (3%).

More than half of the men (57%) and women (53%) were habituated to drinking carbonated water beverages and it was found to be more in the state of West Bengal and low in the state of Maharashtra.

 Among adult men and women, hypertension was found to be the most prevalent, followed by diabetes mellitus. In Kerala, the prevalence of hypertension was highest (39%) while in Bihar, it was the lowest (22%).

In the olden days, it was only the rich who were fat; so fatness was an indication of wealth. Strange we now have so many “fat” people when the foreign media continues to show only frail, thin, emaciated beggars on the streets!