NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 15, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- An obesity epidemic has
reached the urban poor in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers in Kenya found.
Abdhalah Ziraba, who worked on the study with the African Population and Health
Research Center in Nairobi, Kenya, used data from seven African countries to
investigate changes in body mass index from early 1990s and the early 2000s.
The study, published in the journal BMC Public Health, found the number of
overweight/obese people increased by nearly 35 percent during the study period.
Those of higher socioeconomic status were more likely to be overweight or obese
but the rate of increase in obesity was higher in the poor group, the study
found.
"Despite being the least urbanized continent, Africa's population is becoming
increasingly urban and its cities are growing at unprecedented rates," Ziraba
said in a statement. "In spite of rampant poverty in urban areas, access to
cheap foods with a high content of fat and sugar is commonplace."
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