KENYANS EATING THEMSELVES TO OBESITY

Africans are eating more fast food and
adopting more sedentary lifestyles,
leading to a surge in obesity and
associated diseases like diabetes and
cancer, experts said on Tuesday.
Rates of obesity and overweight are
rising in nearly every country in the
world, the Global Nutrition Report said,
describing malnutrition as the "new
normal".
One in three people worldwide are
experiencing malnutrition, it said, with
44 percent of countries facing serious
levels of both undernutrition and
obesity.
Obesity is a form of malnutrition as the
body does not receive sufficient
nutrients and people have too much
salt, sugar or cholesterol in their blood.
"Many countries now across the
continent are facing a double burden of
malnutrition," Shane Norris, a nutrition
expert at the University of
Witwatersrand in South Africa, told the
Thomson Reuters Foundation in a
phone interview.
"There's still persistent undernutrition
in early life and overweight and obesity
in later life."
While undernutrition is falling globally,
few countries are succeeding in tackling
obesity and the four main non-
communicable diseases (NCD) linked to
it: diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular
diseases and chronic respiratory
diseases.
NCDs are projected to become the
leading cause of death in sub-Saharan
Africa by 2030, according to the World
Bank.
Cultural cues
South Africa is the most obese country
in sub-Saharan Africa, Norris said, with
over 40 per cent of adults overweight or
obese.
Other rapidly urbanising African
countries are following suit, with middle
classes often queuing at fashionable fast
food restaurants like Kentucky Fried
Chicken.
"The malls are the 'in' thing," said
Zachary Muriuki, a nutritionist
specialising in diabetes with Kenya's
health ministry.
"We are seeing a trend of obesity cases
rising," he said, blaming unhealthy diets
and increased use of cars.
In Kenya, 84 per cent of people always
or often add sugar to their food and
drinks, while 94 per cent of people eat
less than the recommended five
portions of fruit and vegetables a day,
government data shows.
Culture also plays a role, particularly for
women who are seen as successful,
happily married and healthy when they
are overweight, experts said.
"Being overweight is seen as a positive
thing," said Norris, adding that South
Africans believe it means someone does
not have HIV/Aids, which often leads to
weight loss.
The report called for donors to spend
more on non-communicable diseases,
which accounted for less than two
percent of their health spending in
2014.
Testing and treatment for malaria and
HIV/Aids is often free, which is not the
case for NCDs, Muriuki said.
Non-communicable diseases account for
half of hospital admissions in Kenya,
the government says.