Hooked fast |
Indians are heavily into fast- food items
While Indians are fast catching up with high-calorie fast-food diet, the fast-food giant
McDonald has switched to selling fresh fruit in its British outlets and has also
introduced fruit juice with less sugar for children and low-calorie, low-fat pasta salad
in its menu in developed countries. But Indians are catching up on the high-calorie
fast-food diet very fast. “McDonald’s is now planning to introduce its eateries
in Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and parts of eastern India. In two years, we will have
100 out-lets (the current number being 67) across the country,” says Vikram Bakshi,
managing director, McDonald’s, North India. The fast food eatery has already invested
Rs 800 crore in India and is working on changing its menu, especially targeting children.
Using celebrities to promote their products has proved to be a successful marketing
strategy to lure children. |
| Source: Ratna Bhushan
2005, Big bite, in The Times of India, Bennett and Coleman Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, March 16. |
Cardiovascular diseases
Obesity is one of the etiologies of CVDs. “By 2020, around seven million Indians are
expected to die of heart-related diseases if they do not change their sedentary
lifestyle”, warns Reddy. The manifestations of CVD risk factors are slowly becoming
apparent in younger age groups too.23 Obesity amplifies the risk factors by synergistic mechanisms. An
elevated BMI results in an increase in heart rate and blood volume, as well as increased
systolic and diastolic blood pressure. These changes affect the cardiac system.
“Recent years have seen an eight-fold increase in the incidence of heart ailments in
the country”, says Balram Airan of the department of cardiovas-cular- thoracic
surgery at AIIMS.24
Cancer
Obese men are at a risk of developing cancer of the colon, rectum and prostate.25 Obesity also results in increased fat deposits in the liver,
thereby triggering an increase in liver cancer cases.26 J C Presti from the Stanford University School of Medicine, USA,
reported in January 2005 that there is a direct relationship between risk for prostate
cancer and obesity in men under the age of 60. 27 There are evidences of a possible link between breast cancer and
diet.28 Women are more likely to develop breast cancer and osteoporosis
due to stressful lifestyles.29
 Asthma
Vinod Mishra at the East West Centre, Hawaii, used 1998-1999 data of non-pregnant women,
collected by the Indian Institute of Population Studies, Mumbai, to find a possible link
between asthma and obesity. The weight and height data provided by thesurvey was used to
calculate BMI. Statistical analysis suggested that prevalence of asthma was lowest among
women with normal BMI and highest among the obese.30 Similarly K Wickens from the Wellington Asthma Research Group in
Wellington found in January 2005 that between 1989 and 2000, there had been a significant
increase in the prevalence of asthma and obesity.31
Slowfood it |
Delhi government is essentially silent
on the issue of school canteens endorsing junk food items The Delhi government had
introduced an ambitious "health alternative" for youngsters with an aim to give
scores of youngsters in the capital a chance to eat healthy food in school. But it has had
a very few takers and the announcement has remained largely on paper.
Besides the lack of the will on the government's part, schools have chosen to remain
silent on this matter. This besides the fact that the increase in the lifestyle ailments
among children is being attributed to eating junk food from school canteens. And although
the Directorate of Education's campaign — " Ban on Junk Food and Aerated Drinks
from School Canteen" — received good publicity, it was largely forgotten due to
protests from various quarters like fast food industries.
"There has been a general lack of will in implementing the programme. Earlier, we
went to the court because of the non-implementation after which the government agreed to
cooperate and implement the programme. But things have still remained unchanged. I have
also written to over hundred schools in the capital seeking their support in the matter
and urging them to implement the directive regarding health foods; but there has been no
response," rues Vinod Jain, the chairman of Tapas, the New Delhi based
non-governmental organisation behind the move. And although there has been pressure on the
government since 2003 to begin the healthy eating practice in the capital, the programme
is put on cold storage. "Besides insisting to implement the programme immediately, we
have also provided the government a menu prepared by the chief dietician of the All India
Institute of Medical Sciences, Rekha Sharma, ascertaining the value of all meals
recommended for introduction in the school canteens," says Jain. |
| Source: B Perappadan
2004, No takers for healthy food in schools, in The Hindu, May 21. |
Dementia
Obesity can also lead to dementia (loss of mental abilities) among women. This was
concluded in a study conducted by Deborah Gustafson and colleagues at the Sahlgrenska
University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, subsequently published in November 2004. 32 Itfound that obese women were much more likely to show brain atrophy — the
abnormal loss of neurons — com-pared to slim women. |
