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Medical experts are puzzled over increasing obesity among highly educated women in Kenya and other poor countries.
Data shows that women, especially those with higher education, are at greater risk of obesity compared to those with lower education or none at all. This is in contrast with developed countries where obesity is highest in less-educated women compared to those with the highest education.
Recent data from 14,000 women in Kenya shows those with a college education or higher are almost three times likely to be obese compared to primary school graduates or those with no education. The study found five per cent of women with no education were obese, eight per cent of those with primary schooling, 9.5 per cent in those with secondary education, but 18.5 per cent in college or higher graduates.
The study by the University of Missouri, US, on about one million women from 34 low-income nations shows similar trends in neighbouring countries, with almost a third of highest educated women in Tanzania and Zimbabwe obese.
Poor diets, inadequate physical activity
“The finding that obesity is significantly more prevalent in women with higher education is contrary to what is seen in high-income countries,” said the study published last month (February 27, 2021) in medRxiv database.
A recent study by the US Centre’s for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed obesity among females who did not finish primary schooling in the US was at 35.5 per cent, 32 per cent among high school graduates but 22 per cent among college graduates. “We found that highly educated women living in low-income countries are 5.12 times more likely to be obese than uneducated women,” said the Missouri varsity study led by Dr Cynthia Tang.
The Kenya STEPwise Survey 2015 by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported 27 per cent of Kenyans as either overweight or obese, with 38.5 per cent in women and 17.5 per cent men. The ministry had linked the rise in obesity to poor diets, inadequate physical activity, alcohol, and tobacco consumption, living in towns, being married, being female, and use of hormonal contraceptives.
Further analysis of the STEPwise data, published early this month (March 1, 2021) by Dr Rahma Mkuu, a Kenyan researcher at the University of Florida, US, also reports women with higher education to be at greater risk of obesity. “The likelihood of being overweight or obese was significantly higher among women compared to men, married compared to never-married participants, having primary education or more compared to lower education levels.”
Scientists say they have no clear explanation for this phenomenon but Tang and her team suggest better-educated women are likely to be wealthier, hence having more access to surplus food.
These are also likely to be working at busy desk jobs with little time for physical exercising. “Higher education may provide job opportunities that are less manual labor-intensive and therefore, less energy expenditure is required,” wrote Tiang.
Ben Tenya, a physical exercise instructor at Gyme Times in Kitengela, says they do not see many of the mature women coming for exercise. “Our clients are mainly the younger, unmarried women, more concerned about a trim shape and size rather than health benefits.”
He said while they do not have data on their clients’ education levels, high flyers are relatively few in public or commercial gyms. A deeper look into the STEPwise Survey by a team from the Ministry of Health also confirms better-educated women to be more sedentary and inactive.
The inquiry by Dr Muthoni Gichu, head of the Health and Ageing Unit at the Ministry of Health and colleagues found women were 1.72 times more likely to be physically inactive than men.
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“Physical inactivity was associated with female gender, middle age (30–49 years) and increasing level of education and wealth,” wrote Gichu in the journal BMC Public Health.
Additionally, researchers say, an entrenched culture where larger female body size is being worshipped as beautiful and associated with higher economic success may contribute to the phenomenon.
A 2013 study among 4,934 adults in Nairobi had surprised researchers at the Nairobi-based African Population and Health Research Centre when most, especially women who were already overweight, said they preferred a well-padded body. “A larger body size was commonly assumed to reflect good health and higher social status and may thus be considered desirable,” said the research.
But Gichu wants such notion disabused through education and awareness and women to reduce sedentary time and increase physical activity to improve their health. More sedentary time and less physical activity, Gichu says, puts women at high risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers.
Gichu should know what she is talking about, having been in a global team of experts which has compiled the WHO new guidelines on Physical Activity for Health 2020. “Where do you go jogging with all the boda bodas, traders, and insecurity all over sidewalks,” wondered Lucy Mbuthia of Ngara, Nairobi. “It is scary.”
- Courtesy: standardmedia.co.ke | myhealth@standardmedia.co.ke
Comments
No, it is more African-nature. I have observed that the supposedly educated, qualified or even 'middle class' Africans are least likely to even google basic facts. That Includes my relatives. Try talking about screening, strokes...all I hear is 'talk to so and so, s/he is the nurse or works in hospital'. As if reading about a stroke online is Greek! And these are EX-national school, University graduates...some even had education stints abroad. It is quite a disappointment. Here you will find those GED graduates and high school dropouts have googled the hell out of an illnesses before they visit to ask about it.
The Kenyan women think having a huge belly and excessive body fat is a good sign of being wealthy! They are trying to compete hard with their unhealthy male counterparts who have alway used a pot belly full of local busaa as a sign of wealth!
Needless to say, education is turning many men and women to be damn fools who don’t realize the danger of neglecting physical exercises and taking care of their personal health! There go the neighborhood with a huge population of obese families!
Our mother language says the body is not made of wood. To mean a body is built with food. You got to have money to eat in Africa. And these monied women can afford junk food and can afford alooooot of food while other people are lucky to afford a single meal. In US thats a diff story. You dont have to be rich to add them extra calories.
Is your comment an advise or just a tag along!? Just keep eating alright until you start look like a huge wild elephant! Those monied women are quite foolish to live unhealthy lifestyle! You eat to live but you don’t live to eat; especially the junk craps!
Educated and obese cannot go together. Call them learned or miseducated.
The leaner ones think they cannot do manual job or in sugar coated language. Blue color jobs. So even she gets a good at an office she doesn’t exercise in addition they get married late and cannot she’d offf baby weight easily. For the less educated ladies, the acknowledge their situation. Kinaweza umana na hakuna namna. She is ready to work any kind of a job hence exercise willl be included at her work, then most likely get married early and loose baby weight quicker at young age . Then she will be per with her biological clock. Hence less stress. The counterparts hata kupata mume ni stress,
Divide and rule at play here from the colonizers language. Nothing new. Educated verses uneducated; light skin verses dark skin; those educated in colonizers language verses those educated in local languages. Masters names verses our original names.
Same old game; Divide and rule.
This game has run its course. We are at the end of this rulership. Let us keep our eyes on what is to come not what is quickly declining and loosing value and taste.
People educated in wrong language have wrong values.
The writer is not skilled or intelligent enough to recognize your reservations! Some of these writers are pretty uncouth in the way they present issues! They don’t think when they write nonsense!
It's not nonsense. Kenyan women are too fat. That's why lots of men have secret girlfriends, who are physically fit
If I have not see many fat Unkept Kenyans in USA, I would agree with you but okay, whatever you believe man!
The african man is to blame for this one too....they are to blame for ladies bleaching their skin...they are to blame for women being slaves of the west buying wigs,/fake hair to look the part; the fake part. The african man has contributed a great deal to their women being stooges.
But to educated working women, a little bit of house chores won't hurt...
Wow wowoo ,hold on @ justMe ,are women robots?Days of stay-home-moms are over.Right now in USA,there are more women in colleges than men,and its not because women are more than men polulation wise.In usa men and women are pretty much even...I would chance to say that in africa other than remote cultures that discourage girl child education,and encourage early marriages, education among men and women is pretty much even,give or take 5%.
So you proposition that women follow what men want or tall them is false,by today's standards.
Ok keep commenting on women weight... But even men can are obese and tiresome. Always trying to bring women down 😩
What confounds me is why people who are in the know do not do what they are supposed to do.Is this really human nature? No idea.Where are our social scientists to provides answers?
I disagree with the 2013 study that women preferred a well padded body.May be then,but not now.I was in Kakamega county, deep in the village,and was pleasantly surprised to see women in the 30-40 range, using exercise videos on their cell phones to work out. This may not be prevalent,but it shows that even mashambani,people are conscious of excess weight,being a worry some thing.
Iam sure some men reading this might think that they are off the hook.This is not a matter of looks. This is a healthy issue.So those men with Kitambi protruding,and proudly messaging them,and thinking they display wealthy,think again. That extra weight,especially in the tummy area put you at rist...Belly fat has been linked to colon cancer,and other maladies.So you men,shikaneni mikono na mama.Moja kwa moja muexcercise.It does not have to be in the gym.As a society,we need to collectively encourage this.Yes some will dispel this notion of going to the gym with madame as western influence,well, if it saves ,or extend your life,is it not worth it?
Yes when we know better, we should do better.And that's a measure of knowledge well earned,or learned.