There are now more overweight than underweight
women in Cambodia, according to a study published this month in the science
journal Nutrients, a fact health experts say increases women’s risk of
non-communicable diseases.
The study
gathered data from Cambodian demographic surveys from 2000 and 2014, looking at
women between 15 and 49 years old. The results showed malnutrition shrinking
and obesity growing until obesity surpassed malnutrition for the first time in
2014. Both populations face health risks.
“Cambodia
is thus now facing a double burden of malnutrition in women and has to define
and implement appropriate strategies to improve the nutritional status of
women,” the study states.
The
researchers define underweight as having a body mass index of less than 18.5kg
per square metre of height and overweight as over 25kg per square metre.
Anemia
and difficulties in childbirth are major problems for underweight women, who
tend to be from poorer, more remotely located households, researchers found.
Overweight
women on the other hand face a growing risk from non-communicable diseases
(NCDs) like diabetes. Wealth is positively correlated with being overweight,
but education level is negatively correlated. Nonetheless, obesity is rising
much more quickly among the poor.
Iman
Morooka, the spokeswoman for UNICEF Cambodia, confirmed the data, saying that
18 per cent of adult women in the Kingdom were overweight, compared to 14 per
cent of women who were underweight.
World
Health Organization spokeswoman Vicky Houssiere said the burden of NCDs in
Cambodia was growing. Collectively, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer
and chronic respiratory disease caused 43 per cent of deaths in Cambodia in
2014, up from 35 per cent in 2011.
Igor Kossov
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