RESUMEN
El presente artículo analiza el sobrepeso y obesidad, y lo que estos implican como un enorme problema de salud pública en el mundo y en el Perú. Representan un problema que ha tenido un acelerado crecimiento en las últimas décadas, particularmente en los grupos de menor edad, y está relacionado con cambios en las condiciones de vida de la población. Destaca entre ellos, el enorme crecimiento del mercado y consumo de productos llamados ultra procesados que paulatinamente van sustituyendo los alimentos naturales y mínimamente procesados en la dieta de las poblaciones. El artículo sostiene que este crecimiento se debe principalmente a dos factores. Por un lado, la desregulación del mercado y, por otro, la enorme maquinaria publicitaria que estimula el consumo de estos productos. La obesidad está relacionada también con el proceso de urbanización que ha generado ciudades donde se prioriza la movilidad motorizada, en detrimento de la no motorizada, ciudades con carencia de espacios verdes y de recreación, cambios hacia formas sedentarias de recreación, con sus consecuencias en la disminución de la actividad física de la población. Luego, el artículo sostiene las respuestas y los compromisos que se han generado en los foros internacionales para enfrentar la obesidad y sus consecuencias en las enfermedades no transmisibles. Respuestas y compromisos para implementación de políticas públicas orientadas a combatir las condiciones de vida de las personas que favorecen la obesidad, calificado como ambiente obesogénico. Finalmente, se advierte el hecho de que estas políticas se enfrentan a intereses de sectores económicos poderosos vinculados con la industria alimentaria y de bebidas, lo que dificulta su implementación.
This article discusses overweight and obesity and its implications as a huge public health problem in the world and in Peru. It is a problem with rapid growth in recent decades, particularly among younger age groups, and is related to changes in the living conditions of the population. Notable among these changes are the market'smassive growth and the consumption of ultra-processed products, which are gradually replacing natural and minimally processed foods in the population's diet. The article argues that this growth is mainly due to two factors: the market`s lack of regulation for these ultra-processed products and the huge marketing machinery that encourages their consumption. Obesity is also related to the urbanization process. The latter has given rise to cities that prioritize motorized mobility at the expense of non-motorized transportation, with insufficient green areas and recreation spaces, all of which decreases the population's physical activity levels. In order to address this enormous health problem, the international community has responded with various documents that compile well evidence based policy recommendations to control obesity and its consequences on noncommunicable diseases. Finally, the article remarks the fact that these policies confront powerful economic interests from the food and beverage industry that hinder their implementation. It depends on policy makers and citizens to surmount this conflict of interests and tip the balance towards the health of the population.
RESUMEN
IntroductionAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes, chronic pulmonary diseases and cancers accounted for 60 percent of mortality in the global population and 80 percent of mortality in low and middle income countries in 2008.Mongolia has been undergoing an epidemiological transition since 1990s. As a result, diseases related to lifestyles and health behavior, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and injuries are growing steadily and have become the leading causes of population mortality.PurposeTo determine the prevalence of common risk factors for non-communicable diseases among civil servants in Bulgan aimag.Materials and MethodsA total of 300 randomly selected 22-64 years-olds of staff from 9 organizations of Bulgan aimag participated in the study. The prevalence and measures of average distribution of NCD risk factors were estimated.ResultsOut of all participants, 135 were males and 165 were females. Most respondents (96.3%) knew that smoking harms their health. With respect to the frequency of smoking, 15.5 % (95% CI 11.4-19.7) of the respondents were regular smokers, 10.5% (95% CI 6.9-13.9) were irregular smokers and 65.5% (95% CI 60.1-70.9) were non-smokers. 47.1% of the population strongly agreed to the statement that the Mongolians tend to drink too much alcohol at one time and another 47.8% agreed with this judgment. The attitude of the community related to the daily consumption of fruit demonstrated that only 28.2% (95%CI 23.1-33.3) of the respondents considered having fruits daily as “very important” and 58.7%(95%CI 53.1-64.3) considered it as “important”. According to the study results, the prevalence of people engaged in moderate levels of physical activity was 48.5% with significantly more males (60.9%) (95%CI 52.5-69.3) engaged in such activities than females (38.4%) (95%CI 30.9-45.9).Conclusions:1. The samples examined by this study demonstrated a good knowledge on the harms of smoking (96.3%) and second hand smoking (99%).2. The majority of the respondents (94.9%) agreed that the Mongolians tend to drink large amounts of alcohol at once.3. In general, many Bulgan civilians are lack a health promotion attitude in regards of daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, with only about 28.2% of the respondents considering it as very important.