‘Obesity turning into disease in Pakistan’
By Our Correspondent
KARACHI: Delivering a solo lecture at the Centre of
Excellence, Hamdard University (HU), a senior professor of medicine from a
private university reminded the audience that obesity was gaining the status of
a disease in Pakistan, as the number of adults living with it has doubled in
the period since 1990.
Prof Dr Karim Kammeruddin of Baqai University during a talk titled “Obesity Dialogue” stated that 50 per cent of the country’s adult population happen to be obese, which could be attributed to wanting to eat to obtain taste and pleasure instead of gaining nutrition and energy.
Dr Kammeruddin said South Asian people are generally
vulnerable to obesity, particularly in urban population as they are getting
addicted to fast foods such as burgers and cold drinks. “Burgers and carbonated
drinks were also available, say, 20 years ago, but they used to be consumed in
smaller portions back then,” he said.
He noted that eating to survive is fine, but Hedonic
eating is problematic. “Under this type of behaviour, which is getting more
common, food is consumed not just for gaining strength or energy but for pleasure.”
Dr Kammeruddin, however, added that the people who are
obese should not get depressed; that’s because they can lessen the severity of
some of their problems like blood sugar and hypertension simply by reducing
their weight.
“Such people will start feeling better even if they
reduce weight by only five to 10 per cent as their ailments will start getting
better.”
According to him, nutritionists and physicians often
advise consumption of healthy and balanced diets, but they don’t realise that
Pakistanis having an average income simply cannot afford to buy fruits and
dairy products. “Even vegetables are now getting out of reach for many
people.”
Dr Anas Iftikhar made a brief presentation on the
occasion, said a HU press release.
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