Nearly one in five people is obese in Turkey: Survey

By Dilara Zengin and Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Nearly one in five people in Turkey is obese, according to the results of a 2016 health survey released by the Turkish Statistical Institute on Wednesday.

The survey showed that 19.6 percent of the Turkish people aged 15 years and older had a body mass index of 30 or over, TurkStat said. The rate was 19.9 percent in 2014.

BMI is your bodyweight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A BMI of 18.5 to 25 is considered normal while a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight. 30 or over falls into obese category.

The rate of obesity in women 15 and older is 23.9 percent, according to the survey, while 15.2 percent of men is obese, with 38.6 percent falling into pre-obese category, which means they have a BMI of 25 to 30.

The pre-obesity rate in women, on the other hand, stood at 30.1 percent.

Alev Keser, associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at Ankara University's Faculty of Health Sciences, told Anadolu Agency that the discrepancy between men and women had to do with the higher levels of estrogen hormone in women.

"Compared to men, women have higher levels of estrogen, and more fat tissue. On the other hand, men have more muscular tissue which increases energy consumption as it boosts basal metabolic rate," Keser said.

Basal metabolic rate is simply the amount of energy the body expends while at rest.

Keser said that since in general men work more than women, and women tend to be more at home, this may in turn cause women to move less and consume more food than men.

Keser also noted the technological developments in agriculture and industry which led to an increase in the production of foods with high levels of saturated fat, sugar and salt.

"Easy access to this kind of unhealthy food and reduced physical activity leads to an unhealthy lifestyle, which in turns leads to obesity," she said.

Keser underlined that obesity had become a critical health problem which could be prevented by embracing a healthy lifestyle based on a balanced diet and regular exercise.

According to Dr. Gurkan Kubilay, a well-known internist who regularly appears on national TV shows, eating fewer meals a day and drinking less water slow down the metabolism which in turn leads to weight gain.

"Almost 90 percent of my Turkish patients tend to eat less than three meals a day. When they raise it to five or six, they start to lose weight and it becomes easier for them to stay in shape," Kubilay said.

He noted a prevalent notion in Turkey of how much children and teenagers should eat, namely, that if they ate more, they would be healthier.

"In general, elder people - such as parents and grandparents - insist younger ones to eat more especially during religious festivals such as Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha," Kubilay said, adding this was considered a sign of love.

Kubilay added that being overweight or obese was the second biggest preventable cause of cancer, according to some studies.

"People who are three or four kilograms above their normal weight have a 7-8 percent higher cancer risk," he said.