Most Indonesians unaware obesity is a disease: Study
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.