Apart from urban regions, obesity is also plaguing arising population in rural areas

Obesity is no longer limited to the urban rich but the extra kilos among the rural population is also weighing Ludhiana down. The urbanisation of the rural areas, technology advancement as food is now available with one click has led to further increases in the lifestyle related problems among both urban and rural populace. Obesity is further leading to diabetes and hypertension and all these diseases which were earlier limited to urban areas are slowly creeping into the rural areas as well.

In last National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) in Punjab, 44.3 percent women were found obese in urban and 38.8 percent in rural. Similarly, 35.2 percent men were found obese in urban and 30.2 percent in rural areas. In addition to this, 73.0 percent women in urban and 72.6 percent women in rural were found to have high risk of waist-to-hip ratio and 70.4 percent men in urban and 58.1 percent men in urban have high risk of waist-to-hip ratio.

The survey for next National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) is going on and the figures and bound to increase. The survey is conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

“Obesity is becoming a major public health problem. It has reached epidemic proportion and is becoming unmanageable as a result people are going for bariatric surgeries. Testimony to the fact is that we have performed nearly 1000 surgeries at our hospital since 2018. The youngest patient we operated was 14-years-old from Jalandhar who weighed 140 kgs. Recently a 16-year-old lost his life due to obesity,” said bariatric surgeon, Ashish Ahuja from Dayanand Medical College and Hospital.

He further added that earlier one use to think about going and picking food or dining outside but now everything is available with just one click at the app. Life has become easy with technology but that is also casting its negative effect.

“There was a time when villagers used to do all their work by themselves, but things have changed now. They have also employed servants to get the things done at home and in farms but continue to consume high-calorie diet. And also, fast and junk food is also on their palate, all thanks to the food apps,” added Dr Ahuja.

“The prevalence of obesity is alarmingly high in adult population of Punjab. Clients coming to me are no longer coming only from urban areas but rural

population is also consulting for weight loss. While urban clients generally consult on their own as they are conscious about how they look, rural clients are referred by their doctors for weight loss to manage diseases like hypertension, diabetics, high cholesterol etc,” said a dietician at a private hospital.

She further said that fast food has also entered the households of rural population and they too binge on burgers and pizzas. Apart from this, their daily diet is also fatty and calorie-rich, which includes butter and ghee on routine days and panjeeri, gajar halwa and other high calorie foods especially during winters.