Sandi Saksena
The World Health Organisation has declared it a global epidemic and worldwide publichealthcrisis. Facts based on WHO statistics2022 state that one in eight people in the world were living with obesity. Worldwide adult obesity has morethan doubled since 1990, and adolescent obesity has quadrupled. What is more alarming is thetrends and projections in children and adolescents. There has been, and will continue to be, asteady rise and by 2035, nearly 700,000 children and adolescents will be living with overweightor obesity.
The obesity levels in the GCC countries, including the UAE, are among the highest in the world. Majority of the expatriate population that lives in the UAE and the GCC is from India and othercountries like the Philippines,are really high on the obesity index. Coupled with this is the localpopulation where there is a very high incidence of diabetes and obesity.
Economic impact
The economic impact of overweight and obesity includes treatment costs.There are also indirectcosts such as absenteeism, presenteeism and premature mortality that make up the bulk ofnegative economic impact. In 2019, healthcare expenditure amounted to $1.4 billion,which is expected to rise to $1.9 billion by 2035. Premature death, absenteeism andpresenteeism cost $10.3 billion in 2019, set to rise to $30.7 billion in 2035.
Laziness, sedentary lifestyle, and lack of discipline and patience is leading many to find a quick-fix. The growing popularity of weight loss drugs likeOzempic, Mounjaro, and Wegovy raise concerns about sustainability, and holistic healthapproaches.
Many people taking these drugs/ injections experience gastrointestinal issues that can includenausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea and heartburn compromised immune system and lackof essential vitamins.
Next alternative
What happens when one reaches the recommended weight? Does one stop taking weight-lossdrugs? But, have you altered your food habits, tastebuds and more or were you just reducingthe quantity? Expect the effects to wear off over several weeks.
This means you might have abigger appetite, and you may feel hungry again more quickly after a meal. As a result, someweight gain is common after you stop the drugs! What’s the next alternative, another quick-fix, bariatric surgery? Weight loss surgery done onyour digestive system, either through making your stomach smaller, a gastric bypass, or throughremoving a part of your stomach, technically known as a gastric sleeve surgery?
A random check of the shopping carts of most shoppers at any supermarket will reveal loads ofsugar in various forms, ice creams, chocolates, candy, cereals, cola, flavoured yoghurts flavouredmilks, diluted fruit juice concentrates! Then come the hidden sugars found in ketchup, jarredpasta sauce, barbecue sauce, and salad dressing.
Popular with ‘weight watchers’ protein bars or yoghurt: though a good way to add protein, someof them have high amounts of added sugars. These sweeteners have been linked to anabundance of health issues, including fatty liver syndrome, insulin resistance and diabetes.
Added sugars The best way to tell if your foods contain added sugars is to read the ingredients/nutrition labels.There are a lot of different words for sugar, like high-fructose corn syrup, rice syrup, molasses,caramel, juice, honey or agave. In addition to these words, most ingredients that end with ‘ose’ contain sugar, like glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose, dextrose, and sucrose.
What’s important is the quality and quantity of food we put in our body, the ‘information’ thatquickly changes our metabolism and genes. If we actually ate nutritious food we wouldautomatically be eating less food because our system would absorb the elements necessary tocreate a healthy body.
