Obesity in India

States and union territories of India ordered by
Area Population GDP (per capita) Abbreviations Access to safe drinking water Availability of toilets Capitals Child nutrition Crime rate Ease of doing business Electricity penetration Exports Fertility rate Forest cover Highest point HDI Home ownership Household size Human trafficking Infant mortality rate Institutional delivery Life expectancy at birth Literacy rate Media exposure Number of vehicles Number of voters Open defecation Origin of name Past population Places of worship Poverty rate Power capacity Safety of women School enrollment rate Sex ratio Suicide rate Tax revenues TV ownership Transport network Underweight people Unemployment rate Vaccination coverage Wildlife population
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Obesity in India has reached epidemic proportions in the 21st century, with morbid obesity affecting 5% of the country's population.^[1] India is following a trend of other developing countries that are steadily becoming more obese. Unhealthy, processed food has become much more accessible following India's continued integration in global food markets. This, combined with rising middle class incomes, is increasing the average caloric intake per individual among middle class and high income households.^[2] Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and NGOs such as the Indian Heart Association have been raising awareness about this issue.^[3]

While studying 22 different SNPs near to MC₄-R gene, scientists have identified an SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) named rs12970134 to be mostly associated with waist circumference. In this study more than two thousand individuals of Indian origin participated and the aforementioned SNP is highly prevalent in this group.^[4]

Internationally, a BMI over 25 kg/m^2 is considered overweight. Due to genetic tendency of Indians towards abdominal obesity and its associated risk of related lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and anemia, guidelines for diagnosis of obesity and abdominal obesity for India have been published in JAPI (2009) that a BMI over 23 kg/m^2 is considered overweight.^[5] Further definitions: Normal BMI: 18.0-22.9 kg/m^2, Overweight: 23.0-24.9 kg/m^2, Obesity: >25 kg/m^2.^[5]

NFHS data

This is a list of the states of India ranked in order of percentage of people who are overweight or obese, based on data from the 2016-2021National Family Health Survey.^[6]

See also

• Malnutrition in India

References

Further reading

• Praween Kumar Agrawal (2002-05-23). "Emerging Obesity in Northern Indian States: A Serious threat for Health" (PDF). IUSSP Conference, Bankik, June 10–12 2002.
• Yajnik, C. S (2007). "Obesity epidemic in India: Intrauterine origins?". Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 63 (3): 387–96. doi:10.1079/PNS2004365. PMID 15373948.
• Misra, A (2002). "Erratum: High prevalence of diabetes, obesity and dyslipidemia in urban slum population of northern India". International Journal of Obesity. 26 (9): 1281. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0802030.
• Yoon, Kun-Ho; Lee, Jin-Hee; Kim, Ji-Won; Cho, Jae Hyoung; Choi, Yoon-Hee; Ko, Seung-Hyun; Zimmet, Paul; Son, Ho-Young (2006). "Epidemic obesity and type 2 diabetes in Asia". The Lancet. 368 (9548): 1681–8. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69703-1. PMID 17098087. S2CID 6075746.