Experts say

Experts speak on various obesity-related issues

“Consume less food and do more physical exercise. Change lifestyle pattern and be physically active.” — Umesh Kapil, professor public health nutrition department of human nutrition All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi E-mail: umeshkapil@yahoo.com

“We need to tackle the obesity problem both at the individual and community/national levels. The latter include dealing with the nature of change in our urbanised globalised environments.” — Prakash Shetty chief of nutrition planning assessment and evaluation service Food and Agriculture Organization New Delhi E-mail: prakash.shetty@fao.org

“Policies that encourage healthy diet and being more active can help tackle the problem of obesity.” — Marion Nestle professor of nutrition food studies, and public health New York University, USA E-mail: marion.nestle@nyu.edu

“ One child policy in China is one of the major factors responsible for a rise in obesity prevalence in the country.” — Tsung O Cheng professor of medicine George Washington University Medical Center Washington, DC, USA E-mail: tcheng@mfa.gwu.edu

“It is easier to catch the problem early, so education of parents and children about proper nutrition and physical activity is important. Interventions through schools is also important .” — Peter Walsh chronic disease prevention division Centre for Chronic Diseases Prevention and Control Health Canada Canada E-mail: peter_walsh@phac-aspc.gc.ca

“It is predicted that in 20 years, diseases associated with obesity will account for 60 per cent of the disease burden and mortality in the developing world.” — Kirsten Rennie, researcher Human Nutrition Research Elsie Widdowson Laboratory Cambridge, USA E-mail: klr1000@cam.ac.uk

“As poor countries become more prosperous, they acquire some of the benefits along with some of the problems of industrialised nations. These include obesity.” — George L Blackburn associate director of nutrition division of nutrition Harvard Medical School Centre for the Study of Nutrition Medicine Boston, USA E-mail: gblackbu@bidmc.harvard.edu

“In the next decade, obesity will overtake malnutrition and starvation as the key health concern in the developing world.” — Jason C Halford associate director Kissileff Laboratory Department of Psychology University of Liverpool Liverpool, UK E-mail: j.c.g.halford@liverpool.ac.uk

“The problem of obesity is not given adequate importance by the government of Japan. Here, the health sector is concerned with malaria and HIV/AIDS. So it’s not even well known or understood by the general population that obesity is indeed a problem.” — Marina Njelekela department of life science Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies Kyoto University, Japan E-mail: mnjelekela@muchs.ac.tz

“Indians are at increased risk to get diabetes or heart problems due to obesity compared to Caucasians of same weight, height and age.” — Nikhil Dhurandhar department of nutrition and food science Wayne State University Detroit E-mail: ag8675@wayne.edu

"Proper balanced diet with particular care during adolescence is needed to handle this grave disease in India, because child-hood obesity correlates with adult problems." —Dr Mandakini Parihar, director Mandakini IVF Centre Mumbai E-mail: map@parihar.com

3. Sheila Bhave et al 2004, IAP National taskforce for childhood prevention of adult diseases: childhood obesity, in Indian Pediatrics, Vol 41, pp 559-575.

4. Vibha Varshney 2004, Fat Chance, in Down To Earth, Vol 12, No 24, pp 26-35.

5. K Srinath Reddy 2003, Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases: status and strategies, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, Working Paper no. 104.

6. Richard D Mattes 2001, The taste of fat elevates postprandial triacylglycerol, in Physiology and behaviour, Vol 74, Issue 3, pp 343-348.

7. West Lafayette undated, Fatty food trigger taste buds, new research finds, http:// news.uns.purdue.edu/
UNS/html4ever/011203.Mattes.taste.html, as viewed on March 15, 2005.

8. P Deurenberg et al 2002, Asians are different from Caucasians and from each other in their body mass index/body fat per cent relationship, in Obesity Review, Vol 3, pp 141-146.

9. Anon 2005, Curing obesity, in Health Action, Vol 18, No 3, pp 4-6.

10. Prakash Shetty 2005, Chief of FAO’s Nutrition Planning, Assessment and Evaluation service, March 16, personal communication.

11. Tsung O Cheng 2005, Professor of medicine, George Washington University, Washington, March 5, personal communication.

12. Tsung O Cheng 2005, One child policy and increased mechanization are additional risk factors for increased coronary artery disease in modern China, George Washington University, Washington, mimeo.

13. C Yajnik 2002, The life cycle effects of nutrition and body size on adult adiposity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, in Obesity Review, Vol 3, pp 217-224.

14. Anon undated, Investigation of Current Prevalence, Nature and Aetiology of Obesity in Urban Communities, Nutrition Foundation of India, http://www.nutritionfoun-dationofindia. org/research6.asp, as viewed on July 13, 2004.

15. G Anuradha 2003, 15 per cent of children in Bangalore are obese, in The Asian Age, June 13.

16. Umesh Kapil 2005, Professor, Public Health Nutrition, Department of human nutrition, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, March 8, personal communication.

17. Christopher Murray and Alan Lopez 1996, The global burden of disease, The Harvard School of Public Health, USA, p 273.

18. Anon 2004, Young people at diabetes risk, in The Statesman, New Delhi, September 1.

19. C Yagnik 2004, Early life origins of insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes in India and other Asian countries, in Archives of International Medicines, Vol 163, pp 205-210.

20. Anon 1999, Health situation in the South-East Asia Region 1994-1997, World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia, New Delhi.

21. Anon 2002, India Tops, http://www.diabetes-india. com/, as viewed on June 27, 2004.

22. Anon 2004, Juvenile diabetes on the rise, in The Times of India, Ahmedabad, August 14.

23. Schunkert H 2002, Obesity and target organ damage: the heart, in International Journal of Obesity Related Metabolic Disorders, pp S15-S20.

24. Anon 2004, Heart ailments on rise in capital, in The Asian Age, New Delhi, February 18.

25. Anon 2005, Curing obesity, in Health Action, Vol 18, No 3, pp 4-6.

26. Anon 2003, Liver cancer claims 1m lives annually, in The Pioneer, October 15.

27. J C Presti 2005, Obesity and prostrate cancer, in Current Opinion on Urogoly, Vol 15, pp 13-16.

28. I Colon et al 2000, Identification of phthalate esters in the serum of young Puerto Rican girls with premature breast development, in Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol 108, No 9, pp 895-900.

29. Anon 2003, Women of west Mumbai suburbs prone to cancer, in The Asian Age, March 10.

30. Vinod Mishra 2004, Effect of obesity on asthma among adult Indian women, in International Journal of Obesity Related Metabolic Disorder, Vol 28, No 8, pp1048-1058.

31. K Wickens 2005, Obesity and asthma in 11-12 year old New Zealand children in 1989 and 2000, in Thorax, Vol 60, pp 7-12.

32. Deborah Gustafson 2004, Obesity increases dementia risk?, in Neurology, Vol 63, p 1876.

33. Marina Njelekela 2005, Department of Life Science, Kyoto University, Japan, March 16, personal communication.

34. Marion Nestle 2005, Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition & Food Studies, New York University, USA, March 5, personal communication.

35. Kirsten Rennie 2005, Human Nutrition Researcher, Elsie Widdowson Laboratory, Cambridge, March 8, personal communication.

36. Anoop Misra 2005, Professor, Department of medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, March 8, personal communication.