Diet and Health: Diseases and Food 285obesity, the frequency of obesity in schoolchildren has increased from 5 per cent to
9 per cent for girls and 10 per cent for boys in 1996.^59 (Table 13.5 summarizes the
rapid rise in obesity as measured by comparing initial surveys with follow-up
worldwide studies. The final column of the table shows how obesity is becoming
out of control in developed and developing countries alike.) Even in Australia,
obesity rose 3.4-fold for boys and 4.6-fold for girls between 1985 and 1995; in
Egypt, 3.9-fold between 1978 and 1996; in Morocco, 2.5-fold in just five years,
from 1987 to 1992; in Scotland by 2.3-fold for boys and 1.8-fold for girls between
1984 and 1994. A child’s weight can be thrown off balance by a daily consumption
of only one sugar-sweetened soft drink of 120kcals; over ten years, this intake
would turn into 50kg of excess growth. Although their review also fully acknowl-
edged the role of genetics, the authors pointed to pressures on children’s diets from
advertisements to help explain the rapidity of consumption and obesity chang-
es.^60
Health education seems to be powerless before this rising tide of obesity. On
the island of Mauritius, for instance, a study which examined adults over a period
of five years found that, despite a national programme promoting healthy eating
and increased physical activity, obesity levels had increased dramatically:^61 men
with a BMI above 25 increased from 26.1 per cent to 35.7 per cent and for women
the figure grew from 37.9 per cent to 47.7 per cent during the five-year study. The
government of Mauritius concluded that a National Nutrition Policy and National
Plan of Action on Nutrition was needed.^62 Even in the US, the homeland of fast
food, President George W. Bush was so alarmed by the obesity crisis that in 2002
he launched a national debate. He has long had good reason for concern,^63 as even
Source: WHO, Nutrition for Health and Development: A Global Agenda for Combating
Malnutrition. 2000, available at http://www.who.inVnut/dbj3mLhtrn
Figure 13.10 Global population affected by underweight and obesity in adults, by
level of development, 2000