Overweight kids becoming more common in middle class families

MUMBAI, India - Indian housewife Sujata Budarapu was shocked when she was told that her two sons were on the verge of developing Type 2 diabetes.

"It had never even occurred to me that this could happen. I had heard that outside India this happens to other people's kids, but I never thought it would happen to my own," the 38-year-old from Mumbai said.

Sujata's children are not exceptional cases, even in a country more traditionally associated with malnourishment and chronic food shortages than overeating and weight-related illness.

India still struggles to feed all of its 1.2 billion population, but childhood obesity and diabetes have become an increasing problem among the middle classes, who have largely benefited from a decade of rapid economic growth.

"Childhood obesity has definitely increased in the last couple of years," said Paula Goel, from the Fayth Clinic in Mumbai, which runs a weight loss program for adolescents.

"This is mainly because ... they're not playing on the fields and they're spending so much time on sedentary activities that come with the affluent lifestyle.

"Visiting the malls over the weekends, eating junk food, it's bound to cause obesity."

Sujata's youngest son, Saiprasad, 12, watches three hours of television every day and weighs 66 kg when he should be a maximum weight of 58 kg.

Her eldest boy, Sairaj, 15, tips the scales at 89 kg - more than 30 kg overweight.

Both boys love eating oil-rich and fast food and are on medication to control their sugar levels. They have been attending Goel's clinic for the last three months.

Anoop Misra, president of the Center for Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Disorders in New Delhi, said India has the highest number of diabetics in the world at just under 51 million people.

But that number could increase by nearly 150 percent in the next 20 years, he warned.

The high number of cases among South Asian people has been attributed to genetic factors, including a predisposition to storing more fat.

Socio-environmental factors, though, are now seen as playing an increasing role in the rising number of cases of Type 2 diabetes.

The condition, which occurs when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it makes, largely as a result of excess body weight and physical inactivity, was previously seen mainly in older people.

High-fat, high-sugar, fast food outlets proliferate in Indian cities, catering for a hard-working, time-poor population eager to spend its new-found cash, with Western brands often chosen as a visible sign of wealth.

A study of 4,000 Indian children in 15 cities published in August last year indicated that 23 percent of 5 to 14 year olds in urban schools were overweight, while nearly 11 percent were obese.

Overweight children with diabetes are at greater risk of developing heart disease and heart attacks, deteriorating eyesight, kidney failure, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 04/19/2011 page18)