High rate of obesity among rural women
Overweight and obesity are increasingly common diseases in Cuenca. This indicates a study carried out by the University of Azuay, UDA, in 12 rural parishes of the canton.
This research, which was carried out by UDA teachers and students of the Community Externado chair, reveals that of 1.093 women, 865 have a waist-height index greater than the recommended one; 23 are within the acceptable limit.
María Cecilia Vintimilla, researcher and part of this project, indicated that this survey was given as a result of certain indices detected by medical students in the health centers where they did their professional practices.
Indices
They focused on rural women because they were the ones who presented a high body mass index in previous studies, therefore they decided to measure waist and height.
This body evaluation results from the division between the circumference of the waist and the size of the person. If it indicates more than 0,51 already determines soprebeso.
Also, the World Health Organization established that a waist in women over 85 centimeters shows a high risk of cardiovascular disease and even the risk of diabetes, which could lead to cancer.
Bad habits
A fact that highlights Vintimilla is that despite the fact that, for the most part, women were engaged in agriculture, they did not consume the products of their land; They ate several carbohydrates such as corn, potatoes, rice, noodles and bread.
Most of them preferred to be with their family, watch television or listen to music, that is, they did not practice physical activities.
The latest National Health and Nutrition Survey, from 2012, indicates that adolescents between 12 and 19 years old in Azuay present the highest value of overweight, 27 percent (out of a universe of 308 individuals), followed by El Oro, with 24,6 percent, and Esmeraldas, with a percentage of 24,3.
If we take into account overweight and obesity, Azuay is in second place, with 34,4 percent; the highest prevalence is recorded by Galápagos, with 34,5.
It should be noted that 22 of the 24 provinces have prevalences of excess weight greater than 20 percent, and of these 5 provinces have prevalences that exceed 30 percent.
In addition, there are provinces like Santa Elena that have the double burden of malnutrition much more marked, that is, they present high prevalences of malnutrition and at the same time alarming prevalences of overweight or obesity, Ensanut indicates.
Regarding the adult population, the research shows that there are no problems of thinness, on the contrary "evidence the severity of the epidemic of overweight and obesity that is going through Ecuador.
Obesity is higher in females and from this analysis it is important to note that approximately in the 70 percent of the national territory (a universe of 29.475 people) six of each 10 Ecuadorian adults are overweight or obese.
In an 2014 study based on data from Ensanut on the double burden of malnutrition in Ecuador, "the coexistence of high rates of overweight and obesity accompanied by deficiencies of micronutrients in women of childbearing age and schoolchildren" was documented; They had zinc deficiency and anemia.
Gabriela Molina, zonal nutritionist 6, indicates that Ecuador is in a process of double burden of malnutrition or nutritional epidemiological transition, that is, there is as much malnutrition as overweight and obesity.
"The Ministry of Health, within the policies implemented to counteract this has established the nutritional semaphore."
All processed products must have printed the nutritional value, "must teach the consumer the content of sugar, salt, fat, and alert with red when, preferably, should not be consumed," says the nutritionist.
In addition, it details that in Cuenca, in children under five years of age treated in the 6 area, overweight in 5,17 percent of children and obesity in 1,06 is recorded, according to the body mass index. Ensanut shows that the percentages of overweight and obesity triple in school age.
It's not about beauty
The UDA research determined that 58,9 percent of women (out of 1.093) feel good about their weight, that is, they did not consider it a problem.
Andrés Ortiz, family doctor, believes that it is not a problem of beauty to be "fat or skinny", but to prevent diseases. (I)
IMC The body mass index, BMI, evaluates if the weight that we have is concordant and appropriate with the height. Evaluate the amount of body fat.
ICA. The waist-height (or height) index, ICA, is the division between waist circumference and height. Greater than 0,51 determines overweight or obesity.
ICC. The waist-hip index, ICC, indicates the tendency or predisposition to accumulate fat and the probability of suffering heart diseases.