Zee Media Bureau/Liji Varghese
New Delhi: A recent study puts an alarming 70 percent of India’s urban population in the obese or overweight bracket taking the country right in the middle of a "fat explosion".
With morbid obesity affecting 5% of the country's population, India is following a trend of the other developing countries that are steadily becoming more obese.
Obesity causes an abundance of health-related difficulties including type-2 diabetes, heart attack, high blood pressure, obstructive sleep apnea, gout, high cholesterol, osteoarthritis, cancer and heart failure.
Men with more than 25 percent of total body fat or women with more than 30 percent total body fat are considered, in medicinal terms, obese. If the Body Mass Index (BMI) is between 25 and 29.9 you are considered overweight. If your BMI is 30 or above the person is considered obese.
According to Nick Orton, CEO, BodyPower and Physique Elite the obesity epidemic has its roots in India's growing middle class.
“Children are increasingly becoming less active in a digital age, with rising incomes, cheap fast food and unattended access to video games resulting in a marked shift from cereals and tubers to meat, fats, sugar, fruit and vegetables,” Orton said.
Aimed at addressing the challenges of remaining fit in today's fast paced life, BodyPower Expo, a consumer fitness exhibition, will be organised in India for the first time in March.
BodyPower India has tied up with Bollywood celebrities and fitness trainers to spread awareness about the importance of having a healthy lifestyle and good fitness regime to ward of lifestyle diseases.
