FAT IS A FEMINIST ISSUES : OBESITY
Health Issues..
FAT IS A FEMINIST ISSUES : OBESITY
According to a report by the McKinsey
Global Institute, obesity has risen to
be one of the top three global social burdens generated by human beings. This
places obesity on the same scale of impact as smoking and armed violence, war
and terrorism.
Obesity alone has made an impact of
roughly US$2 trillion (RM7 trillion), an equivalent of about 2.8% of the
world’s gross domestic product. For a sense of scale, smoking makes an impact
of about US$2.1 trillion, 2.9% of the world’s GDP, while armed violence, war,
and terrorism (with military budgets counted in) clocks in at about US$2.1
trillion as well, for a 2.8% impact, the same as obesity.
Of note is that the Malaysian
Association for the Study of Obesity (MASO) had already published a paper in
2005 that would show the trend of obesity in Malaysia reaching where it is now.
Based on the MASO paper, “ as a
result of industrialism, urbanization
and economic stability in Malaysia, significant changes in diet and lifestyle
have occurred. This has had a dramatic impact on the health of the population
as evidenced from the increased prevalence of obesity and chronic
non-communicable diseases”.
The two types of diabetes is heart
issues, hypertension and osteoarthritis among the diseases that are more likely
to occur with obesity. Take, as an example, hypertension. On its own, it causes
feelings of light-headedness, which would impair a work day already. However,
hypertension also brings with it the increased likelihood of strokes, and
these, in turn, could be fatal.
It boils down to simple mathematics.
With a higher rate of obesity, there is a higher chance that someone working
for a company is obese, which, when coupled with the higher chances of illness
among the obese, would lead to a higher possibility of a loss of productivity
for the company.
Comfori Sdn Bhd
