Measuring The Risks and Behavioural Gaps Associated With Obesity

Malnutrition targets human beings in three forms, undernutrition, micronutrient

deficiency and overnutrition. Overnutrition stands for overweight and obesity

which is defined as dietary energy intake, exceeds the requirements for

maintaining a healthy bodyweight, (Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser, 2019). In

year 1993, World Health Organization (WHO) commenced a review of

interpretation of anthropometric references and in 2018 reported on worldwide

prevalence of obesity that, it boosted three times between 1975 and 2016. World

Health Organisation (WHO) has also declared obesity as global epidemic. Many

countries are suffering from the double burden of Malnutrition like India, where

undernutrition and overnutrition, both are causing mortality and morbidity.

unhealthy behaviour that leads to obesity become routine and hard to change. In a

research with obese individuals, this group was found, treated as one homogenous

cohort, with little acknowledgement that beliefs, lifestyle, attitudes, or

demographic characteristics of each obese individual varies within the cohort.

Despite of the several risk factors identified, still there is no consensus across

published literatures regarding the primary cause of obesity and it requires more

research. Literature review concluded that, behavioural aspects of obese

individuals require in depth research to better understand the practices and

knowledge so that customised intervention can be planned.

Worldwide During 2016, around 1.9 billion adults were reported overweight and

out of these, around 650 million were obese. Centres for Disease Control &

Prevention (CDC) has stated and summarized that obesity is a complex health

issue, arising from single or combination of risk factors. These risk factors include

modifiable and non-modifiable factors like genetic problem or environmental

factors. Several studies established that, balanced diet and physical activity, when

practiced in combination, positively impact in the weight reduction.

Literature Review

When existing literatures were reviewed to understand the obesity and its

management better, it was observed in various studies that, despite of knowing the

fact that balanced diet and good amount of physical activity helps in weight loss,