NEW DELHI: Two separate medical findings simultaneously released on
Friday have sounded the tocsin for Indian women.
In
the first study, nearly six crore women in India above the age of 15 have been
found to be overweight, bordering on obesity. Shockingly, a separate study found
obesity to be the leading cause of cancer these days, specially in women, with
about one in 12 new cases of the disease due to excess weight. European
researchers say obesity now accounts for up to 8% of cancers on the continent.
The first study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, examined how many women
in the reproductive age group in three south Asian countries — India, Nepal and
Bangladesh — have become overweight/obese in a decade-long period between
1996-2006. The prevalence of obesity in this age group of women increased by
almost 6% in Bangladesh, 8.5% in Nepal and 4% in India. Though India reported
the lowest percentage increase, in absolute numbers of obese women, it is far
higher than both Bangladesh and Nepal.
After researching national data from eight demographic and health surveys that
studied 19,211 women in Bangladesh, 19,354 in Nepal and 1.6 lakh women in India,
experts found that the prevalence of overweight-obesity increased from 2.7% to
8.9% in Bangladesh, 1.6% to 10.1% in Nepal and 10.6% to 14.8% in India.
These increases were observed in both rural and urban areas and were greater in
rural areas.
Professor Anoop Misra, director of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at Fortis
Hospital, said the prevalence of overweight women had increased substantially in
Bangladesh, Nepal, and India.
India has around 39.42 crore women above age of 15, which means around 5.8 crore
of these women are overweight and obese. This goes to show that women in India
are at higher risk of developing diabetes and
heart disease, primarily due to sedentary lifestyle.
Meanwhile, another study has clearly said shedding some extra pounds could
greatly protect women against cancer. Scientists say being overweight accounts
for up to 14% of cancer deaths in men and 20% of cancer deaths in women.
Some 20% to 30% of common cancers such as colon, postmenopausal breast, uterine
and esophageal may be related to being overweight and to a lack of physical
activity. Though scientists don’t know why obesity increases cancer risk, they
think it may be linked to hormones. Fat people produce more hormones, such as
estrogen, that help tumours thrive.
Source : The Times of India
