By IANS,
Aligarh: Growing prosperity and the changing lifestyle of urban Indians has led to an alarming increase in obesity and diabetes, Ramji Singh, general secretary of the Association of Physiologists and Pharmacologists of India, said here Saturday.
He was addressing the association’s annual conference at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College at Aligarh Muslim University.
“Obesity is the root course of all diseases and there is a need to encourage people to go to parks and sports fields. The rising cases of obesity among youth is a matter of concern and we must chalk out a strategy to counter it,” said the university’s Pro Vice Chancellor Brig. (retd.) Syed Ahmad Ali.
“Genetics, low birth weight, sedentary lifestyle, cococolisation, urbanization and liking for junk food are the factors,” said M.H. Beg, dean of the medical college’s Faculty of Medicine.
College Principal M. Ashraf Malik said childhood obesity was a global phenomenon affecting all socio-economic groups, irrespective of age, sex and ethnicity.
He said obesity was no longer a problem of big cities. “It is spreading in small cities too.”
He said children should not be allowed to watch TV and work on computers for more than seven hours a week.
The university’s Vice Chancellor Lt. Gen. (retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah said diabetes and obesity might prove to be big epidemics in India and China.