According to former WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan, the primary causes of increased abdominal obesity in India are unhealthy diets and physical inactivity.

Swaminathan, who is currently the Principal Advisor for the Health Ministry’s tuberculosis programme, advocated for increased access to healthy meals and exercise spaces in the country to combat obesity, which is already a global health concern.

Obesity is known to be a risk factor for diabetes, hypertension, and cancer, all of which are on the rise in India and around the world.

“Abdominal obesity – unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are driving this unhealthy trend,” Swaminathan wrote on X.

“More awareness, nutrition literacy, expanded access to healthier diets, and exercise spaces are required,” she said, citing a recent study on abdominal obesity published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health.

The study, headed by researchers from IIHMR University in Jaipur and Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States, used data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) conducted in 2019-21.

The findings revealed that abdominal obesity is more common among women (40%) than men (12%).

Approximately 5-6 out of every 10 women aged 30 to 49 are abdominally fat.

Women who are elderly or non-vegetarian are more likely to have abdominal fat. While abdominal obesity is more common in cities, the study found that it is also increasing in rural regions and is affecting lower and medium socioeconomic groups.

In India, BMI has traditionally been used to assess obesity. For the first time, the NFHS-5 measured abdominal obesity using the waist circumference of 6,59,156 women and 85,976 men (ages 15 to 49).

The study discovered that some women with a healthy BMI also have abdominal obesity.

Kerala (65.4%), Tamil Nadu (57.9%), Punjab (62.5%), and Delhi (59%) all had a high incidence of abdominal obesity, while Jharkhand (23.9%) and Madhya Pradesh (24.9%) had lower rates.

Aside from showing a “emerging health risk for Indian women,” the study revealed “a double burden of malnutrition” in the country.

The researchers advised the government to take proactive steps “to design targeted interventions for the groups who have high abdominal obesity, particularly for women in their thirties and forties”.