Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday nominated 10 persons from different walks of life, including Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, businessman Anand Mahindra and actor Mohanlal, to help fight obesity.

“As mentioned in yesterday’s #MannKiBaat, I would like to nominate the following people to help strengthen the fight against obesity and spread awareness on reducing edible oil consumption in food. I also request them to nominate 10 people each so that our movement gets bigger!” Modi wrote in a post on X.

This comes a day after, the Prime Minister discussed the impact of obesity on our health during the Mann ki Baat episode that aired on Sunday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines obesity as an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that poses health risks. A body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered overweight and over 30 is obese. A 2024 study published in The Lancet journal revealed that India could be facing an obesity epidemic with alarm bells ringing particularly for the young.

Why obesity is serious concern for Indians?

India has a high burden of major non-communicable diseases (NCDs) heart disease, strokes, and diabetes. It is important to highlighted that obesity is a major risk factor and a trigger for early onset of these diseases, even Type 2 diabetes among teens.

Obesity is a growing health concern in India as more than 100 million people in India struggle with obesity. Studies suggest that abdominal obesity is highly prevalent in the country. As per the 2019–2021 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), around 24% of women and 22.9% of men are obese in India.

Moreover, India ranks third globally in obesity, following the US and China. The World Obesity Atlas 2024 estimates reveal that nearly 3.3 billion adults will face obesity by 2035, and young adults aged between 5 and 19 years will witness a rise to over 770 million by the same year.

More than half of the world’s population is projected to exceed a healthy weight by 2035, with most of this increase occurring in middle-income countries.

The 2024 Lancet report also revealed that 12.5 million children (7.3 million boys and 5.2 million girls) in the country, aged between five and 19, were grossly overweight in 2022, up from 0.4 million in 1990. According to Unicef’s World Obesity Atlas for 2022, India is predicted to have more than 27 million obese children, representing one in 10 children globally, by 2030. It ranks 99th on the list of 183 countries in terms of preparedness to deal with obesity and the economic impact of overweight and obesity is expected to rise from $23bn in 2109 to a whopping $479bn by 2060, BBC reported.

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In a recent interview with NDTV, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, Director M Srinivas said that obesity is a “risk factor associated with everything”. He revealed that cases of obesity are on the rise in rural areas, as much as they are in urban areas, and stressed the need to battle the disease.

How obesity affects your body?

People with obesity are more likely to develop a number of potentially serious health problems, including:

  • Heart disease and strokes: Obesity makes you more likely to have high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels, which are risk factors for heart disease and strokes.
  • Type 2 diabetes: Obesity can affect the way the body uses insulin to control blood sugar levels. This raises the risk of insulin resistance and diabetes.
  • Certain cancers: Obesity may increase the risk of cancer of the uterus, cervix, endometrium, ovary, breast, colon, rectum, esophagus, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, kidney and prostate.
  • Digestive problems: Obesity increases the likelihood of developing heartburn, gallbladder disease and liver problems.
  • Sleep apnea: People with obesity are more likely to have sleep apnea, a potentially serious disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep.
  • Osteoarthritis: Obesity increases the stress placed on weight-bearing joints. It also promotes inflammation, which includes swelling, pain and a feeling of heat within the body. These factors may lead to complications such as osteoarthritis.
  • Fatty liver disease: Obesity increases the risk of fatty liver disease, a condition that happens due to excessive fat deposit in the liver. In some cases, this can lead to serious liver damage, known as liver cirrhosis.