Study: Migrants to city end up being more obese
Source: Agencies |
April 29, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PEOPLE who move from villages to cities to work are more likely to end up obese and suffer from diabetes compared to their siblings who remain behind, a large study in India has found.
The study, involving 6,510 participants from north, central and south India, found that half of the migrants had packed on an additional 6-7 kilograms by the 10th year of their relocation.
"We have not looked at the extremes, but half the people who migrated put on about 6.35 kilograms in weight. This is a dramatic increase. Some people will have put on much more than that," wrote lead investigator Shah Ebrahim, director of the South Asia Network for Chronic Disease in New Delhi, India.
"The main reasons for weight gain is eating more calories than you need for the energy you burn up in physical activity. We have evidence that migrants tend to eat more fat than rural people, but other nutrients are quite similar."
"The likelihood is that they just eat more of everything because they have more money to spend on food. We have also found that it is not Western foods that are to blame but just ordinary everyday Indian foods," he wrote in an e-mail reply to questions.
The study, published in PLoS Medicine, surveyed migrant workers in four factories, their siblings who stayed behind in villages, as well as non-migrant urban workers.
Migrant and urban participants were three to four times more likely to be obese than the rural folk, and more than two times more likely to be diabetic, the results showed.
Migrants and urbanites were almost twice more likely to have hypertension and have higher blood sugar than villagers.
Indian cities are not good places to get physical activity like walking or cycling to work. Reliance on cars is increasing," he said. "Hidden saturated fats, palm oil and sugars are used in prepared foods to make them more filling and cheaper to produce."
Adult-onset diabetes has been linked to risk factors like aging, an inactive lifestyle, unhealthy diets, smoking, alcohol and obesity. The silent, chronic disease damages the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves and was responsible for 3.8 million deaths worldwide in 2007.
India carries the highest diabetes burden in the world, with 41 million cases in 2007, projected to hit 70 million by 2025.
While many studies have linked obesity and diabetes to certain genetic mutations, Ebrahim said migration, lifestyle and environmental factors held far more weight. "The (fat mass and obesity associated gene) in Western populations increases obesity risk by about 3kg at most. In India, migration hikes weight by double this amount."
The study, involving 6,510 participants from north, central and south India, found that half of the migrants had packed on an additional 6-7 kilograms by the 10th year of their relocation.
"We have not looked at the extremes, but half the people who migrated put on about 6.35 kilograms in weight. This is a dramatic increase. Some people will have put on much more than that," wrote lead investigator Shah Ebrahim, director of the South Asia Network for Chronic Disease in New Delhi, India.
"The main reasons for weight gain is eating more calories than you need for the energy you burn up in physical activity. We have evidence that migrants tend to eat more fat than rural people, but other nutrients are quite similar."
"The likelihood is that they just eat more of everything because they have more money to spend on food. We have also found that it is not Western foods that are to blame but just ordinary everyday Indian foods," he wrote in an e-mail reply to questions.
The study, published in PLoS Medicine, surveyed migrant workers in four factories, their siblings who stayed behind in villages, as well as non-migrant urban workers.
Migrant and urban participants were three to four times more likely to be obese than the rural folk, and more than two times more likely to be diabetic, the results showed.
Migrants and urbanites were almost twice more likely to have hypertension and have higher blood sugar than villagers.
Indian cities are not good places to get physical activity like walking or cycling to work. Reliance on cars is increasing," he said. "Hidden saturated fats, palm oil and sugars are used in prepared foods to make them more filling and cheaper to produce."
Adult-onset diabetes has been linked to risk factors like aging, an inactive lifestyle, unhealthy diets, smoking, alcohol and obesity. The silent, chronic disease damages the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves and was responsible for 3.8 million deaths worldwide in 2007.
India carries the highest diabetes burden in the world, with 41 million cases in 2007, projected to hit 70 million by 2025.
While many studies have linked obesity and diabetes to certain genetic mutations, Ebrahim said migration, lifestyle and environmental factors held far more weight. "The (fat mass and obesity associated gene) in Western populations increases obesity risk by about 3kg at most. In India, migration hikes weight by double this amount."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
