CB BureauThe Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says obesity levels are rising fast in developing countries, with India being on the top.
Between 1998 and 2005, India’s overweight rates increased by 20 per cent, the highest among the six countries – Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa – that the study looked at. In some urban areas, the rise has been as high as 40 per cent.
On an average, almost one in five men and over one in six women are overweight.
Published in the Lancet, the research says that the trend needs to be immediately arrested by taxing junk food, restricting food ads and making food labelling clearer.
According to estimates in the study, the annual cost of broad-based prevention strategies tackling obesity and other health threats, such as alcohol consumption, smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol, would be less than $2 per person per year in India and China, less than $3 per head in Brazil and around $4 per person in South Africa, Russia and Mexico.