Obesity is fast becoming a worldwide health risk. Two out of every five South Africans are either overweight or obese according to the Heart Foundation of South Africa - and obesity has been declared the number one health risk in the United States.
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The study, done by the RAND institute found that overweight people have on average nearly twice the chronic health troubles of people of normal weight and are likely to suffer from more chronic health problems than smokers, drinkers or the poor.
"We didn't expect this big difference,'' said Roland Sturm, lead author of the survey, which was published in the latest edition of the British journal Public Health. "Americans haven't given overweight the same attention as other risks, but it is clearly a top health problem and one that is on the rise."
Sturm said the survey, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, demonstrates that public health officials should intensify their fight against obesity to levels that at least match the public health campaign against smoking.
Sturm and co-author Kenneth Wells analysed data from a nationally representative, household telephone survey of 9 585 adults conducted in 1998. The survey included questions covering height, weight, income, smoking and drinking habits and health status.
The researchers used the body mass index (BMI), a ratio of height to weight, to define overweight and obesity. They measured health status by analysing responses to questions concerning17 chronic health problems, including asthma, cancer, diabetes and heart problems.
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