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Obesity warning for British Asians
10 Jul 2009An international health expert called for the threshold for being overweight and obese to be lowered for British Asians.
The change has been carried out in India to take into account that people of south Asian origin are more likely than whites to develop heart disease and diabetes.
Dr Anoop Misra, who helped to draw up India's health guidelines, said the new measures should be applied for people with a south Asian background wherever they live.
In the UK, people with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or more are defined as overweight, and obese if the measure is over 30.
In India the limits have been lowered to 23 and 25 respectively to reflect the risks for their own population. It is said to have led to an extra 70 million people effectively being reclassified as overweight or obese.
Dr Misra told the BBC: "They should be followed for south Asians - Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nepalis - they are almost similar.
"So for the time being, until guidelines for other population groups are available, I think this should be applicable for all south Asians - not only in the UK, but in any country of the world."
Research by the British Heart Foundation has found that UK Asians are about 50% more likely to develop coronary heart disease than people of European origin.
Data has also shown that one in five Asians have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, compared with 3% of the general population.
The relatively unhealthy lifestyles of Asians in the West has been blamed for the differences.
Professor Stephen Field, president of the Royal College of GPs, said he supported earlier intervention with drugs and surgery to help improve the health of British Asians.
He told the BBC: "The evidence is there. This is an urgent situation because of the increase in diabetes across the Asian population in the UK.
"Our patients are at risk. They need to be identified early early, and treated aggressively."
Reader views (1)
Thats Chicken Tikka Masala for you!
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, Hants, 10/07/2009 16:51
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