A global study indicates that around one in five adults in Bangladesh are now overweight. In the last 30 years, the rate of overweight or obese people in the country has jumped from 7% to 17%.
This highlights a worrying trend in the general health of our population. Being overweight or obese increases serious health risks, particularly for diabetes and heart disease, as well as many other ailments.
If a healthy population is a productive population, this national health problem signals bad news for our nation and our economy. The obesity problem, if allowed to rise unchecked, could trigger a fall in life expectancy as well as a variety of human development indicators.
Millions of deaths take place worldwide with obesity as the root cause. A large portion of those deaths could have been prevented with a little awareness about the constant need for good diet and exercise .
As Bangladesh is a developing nation, a large proportion of our population still lives in dire poverty, where they do not have enough to eat or lack adequately balanced nutrition.
So, in a country like ours, it remains the case that obesity is more likely to be a problem of the affluent.
The new study should ring alarm bells for parents whose children are restricted in their ability to play sports, or who are overindulged in unhealthy snacks.
We need to urgently raise common sense awareness of the diet and lifestyle factors which exacerbate weight problems before obesity turns into an epidemic.
