SA is nation of obese couch potatoes

FILE- In this file photo dated Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007, an overweight person eats in London, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007. Almost a third of the world population is now fat, and no country has been able to curb obesity rates in the last three decades, according to a new global analysis released Thursday May 29, 2014, led by Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, USA, and paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Researchers reviewed more than 1,700 studies covering 188 countries covering over three decades and found more than 2 billion people worldwide classified as overweight or obese. The highest rates of obesity were found in the Middle East and North Africa, with the U.S. having about 13 percent of the world s fat population. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, FILE)

FILE- In this file photo dated Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007, an overweight person eats in London, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007. Almost a third of the world population is now fat, and no country has been able to curb obesity rates in the last three decades, according to a new global analysis released Thursday May 29, 2014, led by Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, USA, and paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Researchers reviewed more than 1,700 studies covering 188 countries covering over three decades and found more than 2 billion people worldwide classified as overweight or obese. The highest rates of obesity were found in the Middle East and North Africa, with the U.S. having about 13 percent of the world s fat population. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, FILE)

Published Oct 20, 2014

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Cape Town - South Africans eat too much, drink too much, and don’t exercise nearly enough. That’s the life-threatening bottom line highlighted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) this past National Obesity Week.

The statistics are a shock to the system: a whopping 70 percent of women in the country are overweight, and 40 percent of those qualify as obese.

A third of men are overweight or obese – and men in the Western Cape were more likely than any other province to be in this condition.

South Africa has the biggest weight problem in sub-Saharan Africa, and Cape Town – despite its outdoorsy image – is not immune to accumulating the kilograms.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey revealed that 62 percent of women and 43 percent of men in the province are overweight or obese.

Even young children are being weighed down by unhealthy lifestyles as one in four girls and one in five boys are overweight.

Being overweight or obese brings a myriad of serious diseases including type two diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, joint pain and certain cancers.

HSF head Dr Vash Mungal-Singh said the causes of the crisis were complex.

“There are many reasons why we are facing this obesity epidemic,” she said. “It is difficult to pinpoint one culprit but people need to understand that our lifestyles are largely to blame. South Africans eat too much, drink too much alcohol, and don’t move enough.”

The Cape Argus consulted HSF dieticians about the bulky problem.

Spokeswoman Samukelisiwe Mabaso said that while the Banting, paleo and Atkins crazes have Cape Town in their grips, such diets don’t make a dent in the obesity epidemic.

“As the problem of obesity continues to grow globally, it appears that these popular diets have not had a significant impact over the years,” she said. “These diets are currently mainly being followed by a comparatively small group of wealthy individuals. The effect on the South African obesity crisis is therefore minimal.”

But the HSF dieticians agree with the likes of Tim Noakes on one point: we should all be cutting sugar out of our diets.

“Reducing sugar intake is an easy and cost-neutral action that would benefit most people,” Mabaso said.

Because eating shouldn’t be about deprivation, what easy and underrated food should we add to our diets?

“Legumes are a cheap, versatile and healthy group of foods that can be used to replace other unhealthier options,” Mabaso said. “Beans, lentils, chickpeas, splitpeas and the like are excellent sources of fibre, complex slow-releasing carbohydrates, lean protein and micronutrients.”

The national Department of Health has set goals to reduce the percentage of obese people by 10 percent before 2020, along with upping exercise by 10 percent and reducing alcohol consumption by 20 percent.

The goals are good, but the practical plans don’t inspire confidence, Mungal-Singh said.

“It’s encouraging that targets have been set by government to reduce obesity in South Africa, however clear strategies to achieve these goals are still lacking.”

Cape Argus

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