A collaborative study by the Department of Biochemistry of the College of Science (CoS) in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Western Cape, South Africa, has established that 43% of Ghanaian adults are either obese or overweight.
Dr. Reginald Annan, A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Biochemistry, made this known at a collaborative workshop on Researching Obesogenic Food Environments.
Using 48,966 adults in all the ten regions of Ghana, the research which was conducted from 1998 to 2016, revealed that the prevalence of obesity was higher in urban areas than in rural areas.
He stated that another study between his team and universities of Tokyo and Hokkaido, which is yet to be published, also examined the nutritional status of primary school children in ten public schools in the Kumasi Metropolis. It revealed that children between 9 and 13 years were prone to obesity and overweight. It revealed an alarming trend of obesity of children in the metropolis and recommended aggressive government policy, including compulsory recreational activities to curb the situation.
He said that during the pre-independence era, people consumed grains and tuber foods high in starch and less fruits and protein. However, the post-independence era revealed that citizens eat more out-home cooked foods and less fruits and protein cooked food. He added that Ghana had the worst low intake of fruit or vegetables consumption and also noted that urbanisation, sustainable agriculture, physical activity in addition to globalisation of food supply has led to more intake of processed food, nutritional transitions, increasing excess calorie intake and poor access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
Dr. Annan said Ghana’s food environment is changing rapidly from eating enriched traditional foods with the influx of malls and fast food joints. This has given way to modern eating habits associated with non-communicable diseases (NCD) with more people predisposed to diabetes and hypertension.
Emeritus Professor David Sanders, of the University of Western Cape South Africa said NCDs were responsible for about 70 percent annual global deaths, the majority of the people, between the ages of 30 and 69 years. He pointed out that nutrition was a key social intervention for good health, adding that, 45 percent of global neonatal deaths were associated with malnutrition.
Professor Mrs. Ibok Oduro, Provost of the CoS, called for a multi-sectoral approach which could lead policy direction in curbing the menace.
