March 01, 2023, Colombo: The overweight and obesity among the male and female population have increased compared to 2015, where 15% of females and 6.3% of the male population were reported with obesity in Sri Lanka, a medical specialist said today.
Consultant Community Physician Shanthi Gunawardana told a news conference at the Health Promotion Bureau that obesity and overweight among the female population increased to 43% in 2021, whereas 34% in 2015. She said according to research conducted in 2015 on non-communicable diseases, obesity and overweight among the male population increased to 30 percent in 2021 in comparison to 24.5 percent in 2015
Dr. Gunawardana said overweight and obesity were decided based on the Body Mass Index (BMI) and that according to statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the BMI of a healthy person should be between 18.5 and 24.9. “BMI over 30 is considered obese, and BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight,’ she said.
She said people in Asian countries should maintain a BMI of 23 and ensure it does not exceed 23. Dr. Gunawardana said food pattern directly leads to obesity and overweight and added that various medical conditions such as heart diseases, diabetes, lung diseases and certain types of cancers are caused due to obesity.
