COURSE: FOOD, NUTRITION AND DIETETICS
UNIT: NUTRITION IN THE LIFE CYCLE (FOND 324)
ASSIGNMENT: EMERGING ISSUES IN NUTRITION: OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY
GROUP: 4
SUBMITTED ON:
SUBMITTED TO: DR. ELIZABETH MBUTHIA
GROUP MEMBERS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
DANIEL ODUOR OCHIENG
MERCYLINE FURAHA
CELESTINE APONYO M.
CAROLINE WAMUHU
EDWARD CECILIA KATUNGE
GLORIA NDUMI
-
H11/03276/19
H11/03236/19
H11/01705/18
H11/03240/19
H11/03259/19
H11/03257/19
Overweight and obesity are on the rise globally and are considered to be a disorder in the 21st century.
Obesity can also be referred to as severely overweight, refers to abnormal fat accumulation that may
have a negative effect on health of a person and give health risk factors include a BMI >30kg/m2
Overweight on the other hand refers to excessive amount of body weight indicated by a BMI >25.0 to
29.9kg/m2 among other factors.
Overweight and obesity are getting a lot of attention especially because of their contribution and linkage
to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), besides being life threatening. It is in the fifth prominent cause of
death globally. Every year at least 2.8 million people die due to overweight or obesity. On top of this
23% of the ischemic heart disease burden and 44% of the diabetes burden and more than 7% of certain
cancer burdens are attributable to overweight and obesity. (WHO, 2013).
The reason for the increase of overweight and obesity prevalence is likely to be attributable to a
disturbed energy balance: a higher energy intake and a decrease physical activity.
Data from KDHS unveiled that the national prevalence of overweight and obesity in women between 15
to 49 years was 23% while in same sex and age grp 12.3%was underweight.
Globally overweight and obesity cause more deaths than underweight in adults.
DETERMINANTS OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY.
The rise in the burden of overweight and diabetes is associated with demographic and social changes
such as globalization, urbanization, aging population and adoption of unhealthy lifestyles such as
consumption of unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and excessive alcohol consumption.
Urbanization
People in urban areas consume regularly significantly different diets in comparison to people in rural
areas. Urban residents have increased access to western food choices than rural residents. People in
urban areas are less physical active than in rural areas. Urbanization can lead to a sedentary lifestyle
which can lead to lack of physical activity. Introduction of technology like computers, internet, satellite
TV and cell phones has made a lot of children and adults spend innumerable hours sitting at home in
front of a TV or comp screen. Global research shows this as a risk factor for the increase of obesity.
Globalization.
Outcomes of globalization of food market is the introduction of unhealthy and processed foods
especially to urban areas. To have more fast food branches in an area gives a potential to affect BMI in
users and higher density of fast foods restaurants may tempt people to eat food containing a lot of
calories.
Aging population
Overweight and obesity is a manifestation of several health factors. The elderly population are prone to
these conditions due to decreased cell metabolic activities and energy utility, decreased physical
activity, underlying diseases associated with age and organ malfunctions.
Unhealthy lifestyles
REFERENCES
1. Lemamsha H, Randhawa G, Papadopoulos C. Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity
among Libyan Men and Women. Biomed Res Int. 2019 Jul 15;2019:8531360. doi:
10.1155/2019/8531360. PMID: 31392214; PMCID: PMC6662481.
2. Ministry of Health. Kenya national strategy for the prevention and control of non-communicable
diseases 2015-2020
3. Mkuu RS, Epnere K, Chowdhury MAB. Prevalence and Predictors of Overweight and Obesity
Among Kenyan Women. Prev Chronic Dis 2018;15:170401. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd15.170401
4. World Health Organization. Obesity and overweight 2016.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/. Accessed March 24, 2017.