By Vaibhav Bhosle
India has always been looked upon
as hunger stricken, poverty affected and undernourished country. But, according
to statistics, 5% of Indians are suffering from morbid obesity. Indian male
ranks 14th in the world, while women are 16th in the
list of obesity.
Obesity is fundamentally a
lifestyle disease generally found in developed countries. But, nowadays in India,
increased accessibility to fast foods in the urban areas is the major cause
behind rise in average weight of an Indian. There has also been significant
rise in International franchises supplying unhealthy fast food.
Lack of physical activity amongst the urban people can also be sighted as a significant cause for obesity. While,
the villagers in India had an additional advantage of physical activity, but
with technology being penetrated into the rural areas activities like watching
television have soared significantly. As Indians are genetically designed for
storage of excess of fat around the waist, obesity may prove extremely fatal in
the near future.
Fast food like Burgers, Pizzas as
compared to health food is quite cheaper than healthy foods like salad. So, the
market for fast food is growing at a rapid rate. Cheap rate of the commodity
will lead to increase in demand in the market. The first step can be to reduce
the demand in the market. Secondly, the government should run health awareness
campaigns in the cities.
Obesity is a physical state of an individual in which he is more prone to heart diseases, diabetes and cancer and
also risk of infertility may prevail among women. India, being more of an
undernourished country, but with fast paced lifestyle in the urban part and
increase in urbanization itself, in no time obesity may become a major cause
for fatality.
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