Most Indonesians unaware obesity is a disease: Study
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Most Indonesians are unaware that obesity is a disease although they realize that being overweight make them more vulnerable to serious health problems, a study concludes.
The study, conducted by research company Insight together with pharmaceutical company Roche Indonesia last November, revealed that 63 percent of 250 respondents said they ignored the risks of being obese and only half of the population were well informed about obesity.
"The findings show that people are ignorant about the issue so there must be a campaign to tell the people that obesity is not a symbol of social status but a disease or at least a source of disease," endocrinologist Slamet Suyono said on Tuesday.
He was speaking in a media conference to publish the result of the study. The event was marked by the launching of a health education campaign entitled: Lose Weight, Gain Life, which runs nationwide from February through December this year.
The campaign, organized by Roche in cooperation with the Indonesian Society of Endocrinologists (Perkeni), offers the public and health practitioners knowledge on the issue. It will also hold a low-fat menu restaurant campaign and a series of seminars.
The study involved Jakartans aged 17 up to 45, where 40 percent of the respondents were of normal weight, 30 percent overweight and the remaining 30 percent obese.
A staggering 63 percent of overweight people studied insisted that they had healthy and normal eating habits and claimed to have never faced health problems. Worse still, three quarters of those in the obese category believed they were just "very fat".
Obesity, which is caused by the malfunctioning of endocrine glands which produce or secrete certain hormones, mostly affects urban dwellers with a change in lifestyle and eating habits as underlying factors.
A measure, known as body mass index, is used to define whether a person is overweight or obese. In a calculation of height and weight, an index of 26-29 is considered overweight, and 30 or more is considered obese.
A study conducted by Perkeni and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Depok, South Jakarta, in 2001 revealed that more than 33 percent of men and 28 percent of women in the area were obese and were at higher risk of developing noncommunicable diseases such as heart problems, stroke, kidney problems, cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure.
A similar study in 1992 conducted in Kayuputih, an East Jakarta district whose population's lifestyle, social, economic and education background were similar to those in Depok, resulted in an index of 24 percent of men and 10.9 percent of women.