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The Numbers:
- Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in India
- Every sixth Diabetic in the world is an Indian
- Morbid Obesity affects 5 % of India’s population
- Obesity
is one of the major causes for Diabetes.
- Obesity related diseases are one of the leading causes of death in country.
- Research shows Indians store more fat per kilogram than Europeans, Chinese and Americans.
- This is irrespective of the fact that the Global Hunger Index shows that nearly half of all children in India are malnourished.
- In Punjab, nearly 40% of all women are overweight or obese
- The risk is now crossing socio economic lines.
- Childhood Obesity and Diabetes is now a major cause of concern in our country, with many children suffering from problems even before they reach adolescence.
- If not curbed now, it will lead to uncontrollable proportions of Diabetics and other Obesity related illnesses in our country.
- Abdominal Obesity is the main cause of problems, and since Indians are susceptible to weight around the waist, if only that were to be taken into account , nearly half our country’s population would be at risk.
- At the current rate, nearly 50-70% of children with become obese adults, and will suffer from diabetes, stroke, liver diseases, infertility, hypertension, heart problems, arthritis and cancer.
- Obesity even affects a child’s behaviour, withdrawing him from society and the outside world.
- In November 2005, students from government and public schools were screened in a study named ‘Medical Education for Children/Adolescents for Realistic Prevention of Obesity and Diabetes for Healthy Ageing’, in which 26% of children aged between 14-17 suffered from the Syndrome X, that is caused by Obesity and is a precursor to Diabetes. That number today, 5 years later would comfortably be around 50%.
- India has earned the title of ‘the diabetes capital of the world’
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