By Sade Oguntola
THE University of Ibadan (UI), in commemoration of World Obesity Day, has launched its campus obesity programme, as part of its intervention to curb overweight and obesity among its students.
A new study had recently put cases of overweight and obesity in the university at 18.7 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.
The study, entitled ‘Temporal Trends in Overweight and Obesity and Chronic Disease Risks among Adolescents and Young Adults: A 10-year Review at a Tertiary Institution in Nigeria,’ reported a double burden of malnutrition, characterised by the co-occurrence of under-nutrition and overweight/obesity among the students.
The principal investigator of the obesity study, Dr Abayomi Oluwasanu, speaking at the study’s dissemination, declared that a higher percentage of students who were overweight or obese were hypertensive (14.2 percent) compared to normal and underweight students (5.9 percent).
“The prevalence of hypertension at enrollment was 8.1 percent, and 35 percent of the study population had pre-hypertension. The percentage of students who were prehypertensive or hypertensive increased as age increased. Also, a higher percentage of students who were overweight or obese had prehypertension (45.9 percent), compared to normal and underweight students (35.6 percent).”
Dr Oluwasanu declared that diet and lifestyle changes like increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and fast foods, continued low consumption of fruits and vegetables and increased frequency of meals eaten away from home, not eating mindfully, eating late and a sedentary lifestyle had contributed to rising cases of overweight and obesity globally.
“We discovered that the first underweight is still very much with us, but it is coexisting and increasing alongside obesity and overweight. So, there is a double burden of malnutrition among our younger population.
“There is no existing policy for lifestyle-related interventions up until now in this population; the time is ripe for us to do something about obesity so that we can reduce the prevalence of obesity-associated diseases like hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol and cancer,” he said.
Vice Chancellor of UI, Professor Kayode Adebowale, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Professor Peter Olapegba, called on all stakeholders to examine the cultural traits that predispose individuals to obesity and charged all to take personal responsibility for their health to tackle the challenges of obesity.
He said the university would adopt obesity as an institutional issue and that the newly launched Campus Obesity Network will coordinate action on the prevention and control of obesity and its associated non-communicable disease risks at the university.
Earlier, Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, had urged Nigerians to live a healthy life by constantly checking their blood pressure and blood sugar and maintaining a healthy weight.
Director of the African Research Universities Alliance Centre of Excellence for Non-Communicable Diseases, Professor Mayowa Owolabi, in a goodwill message, said obesity and hypertension have become epidemics driven by our lifestyles, adding that many deaths that occur from obesity are preventable by increasing intake of fruits and vegetables, exercising and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
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