Increasing obesity in rural women linked to lifestyles, processed foods

From processed food to multiple pregnancies, several factors behind their obesity

More women in rural India are becoming obese, joining their urban counterparts. A combination of evolving standards of living in rural areas and increasingly sedentary lifestyle may be reasons behind the surge in obesity among rural women, according to medical experts. Another major reason is inability to lose weight after child delivery, which continues to haunt rural women, especially in their second or third pregnancies.

 

“We have observed that women continue gaining weight, with the same thing being repeated during the next pregnancy. As a result, that site (abdominal obesity) gets accumulated forever, making it very difficult to lose that weight,” Pradeep Chowbey, chairman, Max Institute of Laparoscopic, Endoscopic, Bariatric Surgery and Allied Surgical Specialties at MSSH Saket said.

 

Additionally, disrupted sleep cycles and hormonal changes in women add to rising obesity levels.

 

According to data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the share of women recorded as overweight or obese with a Body Mass Index (BMI) more than 25 kg/m2, has risen from 10.6 per cent in 1998-99 to 24 per cent in 2019-21. The latest NFHS-5 showed that the share of obesity in rural and urban women was at 19.7 per cent and 33.2 per cent, respectively, in 2021, a rise from 5.9 per cent and 23.5 per cent recorded in NFHS-2 of 1998.

 

Experts believe that this rate may further rise due to changes in dietary behaviour, calorie intake, and genetic effects, especially in rural areas.

 

A recent study by Lancet has estimated that India could have over 440 million obese and overweight people by 2050, with women outranking men (at 231 million women to 218 million men), making India the second-highest obesity load country in the world after China.

 

Speaking of the evolving standard of living in rural areas, Sukhvinder Singh Saggu, director, minimal access, gastrointestinal and bariatric surgery at CK Birla Hospital, Delhi, said that many processed food companies have expanded their reach into villages. He added that with greater access to ultra-processed foods, which may be packed with upwards of 300 calories per meal, and a shift towards more sedentary lifestyle, obesity is rising in rural areas as well. 

 

“Population growth, improvement in per-capita income, and weaker regulations have created favourable markets for expansion for several multinational food and beverage corporations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as India,” another expert said.

 

Saggu said that approximately 30 per cent of obesity risk is linked to genetics. “However, genetics alone is not the determining factor, as environmental influences may also act as triggers,” he added.

 

Khushboo Jain Tibrewala, nutritionist, diabetes and inflammation specialist at The Health Pantry, said that the most common age range of women facing obesity remains 30-50 years.

 

Highlighting concerns over increasing rates of obesity, Chowbey said: “Women with obesity are also at a higher risk for joint pain, back pain, reduced physical activity, and work-related fatigue.”

 

Doctors admit that while it may be difficult to cure obesity, any chronic disease can be controlled and reversed.

 

Comparing obesity with hypertension, Dr Naval K Vikram, professor at the department of medicine in AIIMS Delhi, said: “One has to be aware, start early and institute lifestyle measures or medication, and it has to be lifelong.”