Daily Times

Health experts fear things may get worse in coming years if current lifestyle trends continue A colossal 40% of children in Pakistan are either overweight or obese, mainly due to a sedentary lifestyle, excessive screen time, and an unhealthy diet, the latest studies and health experts say. According to the most recent study by the state-run Pakistan Health Commission (PHC) in 2018, over 11% of children in the country were overweight and more than 5% were obese. However, several hospital-based studies and surveys paint a grimmer picture, with findings that 40%-50% of children in the South Asian country are either overweight or obese. Speaking to Anadolu Agency ahead of Friday’s World Obesity Day, Dr. Musarrat Riaz of the Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Baqai Medical University Karachi, cast doubt on the PHC statistics, calling them “underestimated.” Riaz, who has been part of such hospital-based and clinical studies on obesity, said the actual figures range between 40% and 50%. “These studies have shown really alarming numbers,” she said, warning that the number of children who are obese or overweight is rapidly increasing. Rising childhood obesity is causing a slew of diseases and health complications, she said, fearing that the number of children with obesity issues was likely to rise in the coming years if current lifestyle trends continue. “A good number of young people aged 20 to 25 years are developing early age diabetes, apart from hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and many harmonic issues because of obesity,” she added.

Bleak forecast

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), Pakistanis suffer from the world’s third-highest prevalence of diabetes, with one of every four adults living with the condition. Abdul Basit, a member of the IDF Atlas Committee in Pakistan, warned that if Pakistanis continue to live their current lifestyle, “things may get worse” over the next five years. Citing a recent study by the Pakistan Health Research Council (PHRC), an official research body, he said that nearly 60% of the country’s 210 million people are obese. Two cutoffs were used in the countrywide study — Global and Asian.The World Health Organization figures show that 58.1% of Pakistanis are overweight, with 43.9% obese. However, according to the Asian cutoffs that are not yet globally recognized, 72.3% of Pakistanis are overweight, with obesity affecting 58.1% of the population.