Even though mal­nu­tri­tion exists in Africa at higher lev­els than any­where else, nutri­tion­ists are warn­ing against obe­sity in the con­ti­nent. Those who live in the cities or slums have seden­tary lifestyles and have access to a lot of fatty foods.

From the IRIN, we read a roundup of some nutri­tion­ist opin­ions of the risks of obe­sity in Africa

Africa faces a dou­ble bur­den of obe­sity and hunger as mil­lions take up increas­ingly seden­tary lives in cities and the global finan­cial cri­sis hits rural pop­u­la­tions’ food secu­rity, nutri­tion­ists warn.

Under-nutrition con­tin­ues to plague sub-Saharan Africa, where 32 per­cent of the world’s hun­gry peo­ple live. How­ever, those migrat­ing from the coun­try­side to cities are eat­ing too much fatty food, lead­ing to ris­ing rates of obe­sity, dia­betes, hyper­ten­sion and high blood pres­sure, del­e­gates at the Inter­na­tional Con­gress of Nutri­tion (ICN) in Bangkok were told.

“The prob­lem in Africa is [that] both under– and over-nutrition are the worst in the world. We really are fac­ing a dou­ble bur­den,” Hes­ter Vorster, of the Cen­tre for Excel­lence in Nutri­tion at South Africa’s North-West Uni­ver­sity, told the con­gress, which runs until 9 October.

“Over-nutrition is much the same thing as what we see in the west. Sig­nif­i­cant num­bers of Africans have migrated to the cities and they are eat­ing the wrong foods. So for Africa, the bur­den of dis­ease is increas­ing all the time,” Jean-Claude Mbanya of the Uni­ver­sity of Yaoundé in Cameroon, and president-elect of the Belgium-based Inter­na­tional Dia­betes Fed­er­a­tion, said.

Both over– and under-nutrition can be caused by poverty and food inse­cu­rity, with the urban poor unable to access or afford fresh and nutri­tious food, Helene Delisle, a nutri­tion­ist at the Uni­ver­sity of Mon­treal in Canada, told IRIN.

In some north­ern and south­ern African coun­tries, over-nutrition has sur­passed under-nutrition, but there is a com­plete lack of aware­ness about the new prob­lems it brings, she said.

“These coun­tries are not aware of it. In many areas, obe­sity is seen not as a prob­lem, but as a pos­i­tive sign that you are doing well in life,” she said.

Mean­while, lower-income coun­tries con­tinue to suf­fer mainly from under-nutrition, which has actu­ally increased over the past five years, thanks to the food price cri­sis of 2008 and the global finan­cial cri­sis, Delisle said.

Obe­sity on the rise

Sta­tis­tics from the World Health Orga­ni­za­tion (WHO) show how obe­sity has risen while under-nutrition has per­sisted in some countries.

In Mada­gas­car in 1992, just 1.6 per­cent of chil­dren were over­weight, while 35.5 per­cent were under­weight and 60.9 per­cent suf­fered stunted growth. By 2004, 6.2 per­cent of chil­dren were over­weight while 36.8 per­cent were under­weight, and 52.8 per­cent were stunted.

The rate of over­weight and obese women also dou­bled between 1997 and 2004, to 8.1 per­cent overall.

And in 1987, 5.5 per­cent of Moroc­can chil­dren were over­weight; by 2004, that fig­ure had increased to 13.3 percent.

Obe­sity is also on the rise in Uganda, although under-nutrition con­tin­ues to pose the biggest prob­lem, with about 40 per­cent of chil­dren under five suf­fer­ing from stunted phys­i­cal growth and men­tal devel­op­ment due to a lack of vit­a­mins and nutrient-rich food.

Obe­sity and other so-called “lifestyle dis­eases” are widely regarded as a prob­lem only for older peo­ple in Uganda but are increas­ingly preva­lent in young men, Eliz­a­beth Madraa, the head of food and nutri­tion at Uganda’s Min­istry of Health, and a del­e­gate at the con­gress, told IRIN.

Anaemia in teenage girls is also increas­ing due to a lack of iron in diets, she said. And in another new trend, Ugan­dan moth­ers are increas­ingly choos­ing to give their babies pow­dered milk rather than breast-feeding them.

“They buy milk pow­der because they see it adver­tised, and we have to fight that. We need to address all this as a nutri­tion prob­lem,” Madraa said.

Greater aware­ness

Mbanya called for aware­ness cam­paigns and leg­is­la­tion to fight the neg­a­tive effects of a poor diet fuelled partly by adver­tis­ing. “If we want our peo­ple to change their habits we have to make it easy for them to have healthy choices,” he said.

How­ever, progress is ham­pered by the poor sta­tus of nutri­tional sci­ence in Africa, experts say.

Few well-defined job open­ings, poor salaries and recog­ni­tion, and a plethora of com­pet­ing cur­ric­ula taught by unqual­i­fied train­ers are among the chal­lenges, said Tola Atinmo, Niger­ian pres­i­dent of the Fed­er­a­tion of African Nutri­tion Societies.

“At the moment in Africa, nutri­tion is everybody’s prob­lem but nobody’s busi­ness,” said Atinmo.

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Even though mal­nu­tri­tion exists in Africa at higher lev­els than any­where else, nutri­tion­ists are warn­ing against obe­sity in the con­ti­nent. Those who live in the cities or slums have seden­tary lifestyles and have access to a lot of fatty foods.

From the IRIN, we read a roundup of some nutri­tion­ist opin­ions of the risks of obe­sity in Africa

Africa faces a dou­ble bur­den of obe­sity and hunger as mil­lions take up increas­ingly seden­tary lives in cities and the global finan­cial cri­sis hits rural pop­u­la­tions’ food secu­rity, nutri­tion­ists warn.

Under-nutrition con­tin­ues to plague sub-Saharan Africa, where 32 per­cent of the world’s hun­gry peo­ple live. How­ever, those migrat­ing from the coun­try­side to cities are eat­ing too much fatty food, lead­ing to ris­ing rates of obe­sity, dia­betes, hyper­ten­sion and high blood pres­sure, del­e­gates at the Inter­na­tional Con­gress of Nutri­tion (ICN) in Bangkok were told.

“The prob­lem in Africa is [that] both under– and over-nutrition are the worst in the world. We really are fac­ing a dou­ble bur­den,” Hes­ter Vorster, of the Cen­tre for Excel­lence in Nutri­tion at South Africa’s North-West Uni­ver­sity, told the con­gress, which runs until 9 October.

“Over-nutrition is much the same thing as what we see in the west. Sig­nif­i­cant num­bers of Africans have migrated to the cities and they are eat­ing the wrong foods. So for Africa, the bur­den of dis­ease is increas­ing all the time,” Jean-Claude Mbanya of the Uni­ver­sity of Yaoundé in Cameroon, and president-elect of the Belgium-based Inter­na­tional Dia­betes Fed­er­a­tion, said.

Both over– and under-nutrition can be caused by poverty and food inse­cu­rity, with the urban poor unable to access or afford fresh and nutri­tious food, Helene Delisle, a nutri­tion­ist at the Uni­ver­sity of Mon­treal in Canada, told IRIN.

In some north­ern and south­ern African coun­tries, over-nutrition has sur­passed under-nutrition, but there is a com­plete lack of aware­ness about the new prob­lems it brings, she said.

“These coun­tries are not aware of it. In many areas, obe­sity is seen not as a prob­lem, but as a pos­i­tive sign that you are doing well in life,” she said.

Mean­while, lower-income coun­tries con­tinue to suf­fer mainly from under-nutrition, which has actu­ally increased over the past five years, thanks to the food price cri­sis of 2008 and the global finan­cial cri­sis, Delisle said.

Obe­sity on the rise

Sta­tis­tics from the World Health Orga­ni­za­tion (WHO) show how obe­sity has risen while under-nutrition has per­sisted in some countries.

In Mada­gas­car in 1992, just 1.6 per­cent of chil­dren were over­weight, while 35.5 per­cent were under­weight and 60.9 per­cent suf­fered stunted growth. By 2004, 6.2 per­cent of chil­dren were over­weight while 36.8 per­cent were under­weight, and 52.8 per­cent were stunted.

The rate of over­weight and obese women also dou­bled between 1997 and 2004, to 8.1 per­cent overall.

And in 1987, 5.5 per­cent of Moroc­can chil­dren were over­weight; by 2004, that fig­ure had increased to 13.3 percent.

Obe­sity is also on the rise in Uganda, although under-nutrition con­tin­ues to pose the biggest prob­lem, with about 40 per­cent of chil­dren under five suf­fer­ing from stunted phys­i­cal growth and men­tal devel­op­ment due to a lack of vit­a­mins and nutrient-rich food.

Obe­sity and other so-called “lifestyle dis­eases” are widely regarded as a prob­lem only for older peo­ple in Uganda but are increas­ingly preva­lent in young men, Eliz­a­beth Madraa, the head of food and nutri­tion at Uganda’s Min­istry of Health, and a del­e­gate at the con­gress, told IRIN.

Anaemia in teenage girls is also increas­ing due to a lack of iron in diets, she said. And in another new trend, Ugan­dan moth­ers are increas­ingly choos­ing to give their babies pow­dered milk rather than breast-feeding them.

“They buy milk pow­der because they see it adver­tised, and we have to fight that. We need to address all this as a nutri­tion prob­lem,” Madraa said.

Greater aware­ness

Mbanya called for aware­ness cam­paigns and leg­is­la­tion to fight the neg­a­tive effects of a poor diet fuelled partly by adver­tis­ing. “If we want our peo­ple to change their habits we have to make it easy for them to have healthy choices,” he said.

How­ever, progress is ham­pered by the poor sta­tus of nutri­tional sci­ence in Africa, experts say.

Few well-defined job open­ings, poor salaries and recog­ni­tion, and a plethora of com­pet­ing cur­ric­ula taught by unqual­i­fied train­ers are among the chal­lenges, said Tola Atinmo, Niger­ian pres­i­dent of the Fed­er­a­tion of African Nutri­tion Societies.

“At the moment in Africa, nutri­tion is everybody’s prob­lem but nobody’s busi­ness,” said Atinmo.

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