GMA leaving presidency with more Pinoys overweight

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga , Philippines  - President Arroyo is leaving the presidency with more Filipinos overweight.

Latest statistics from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) have revealed that while undernutrition in the country was estimated at 11.6 percent, incidence of overweight and obesity was recorded at 26.6 percent.

Statistics also showed that one out of every four adult Filipinos suffers from hypertension, five of 100 have high fasting blood sugar (FBS) and four out of every 100 have diabetes.

Some 11.8 percent of adults, represented by the survey respondents, also have bad cholesterol in their system.

In an interview with The STAR, Jocelyn Juguan of the FNRI’s Nutritional Assessment and Monitoring Division said the statistics on the health of Filipinos were incorporated only recently in the 7th National Nutritional Survey conducted from May to December 2008.

She said that in July 2009, FNRI released to the media only the statistics on the nutritional status of children.

The statistics on adults 20 years old and above, particularly on obesity, hypertension, FBS and diabetes, were not included in last year’s survey.

“The latest data have remained statistically applicable,” Juguan said.

The survey, done once every five years, covered 191,351 individual samples in 36,634 households in 79 provinces, the FNRI said.

“Overnutrition (has become) more of a problem than undernutrition,” the survey said.

The survey cited comparative data indicating a decrease in the number of chronic energy deficit (CED) cases from 12.3 percent in 2003 to 11.6 percent in 2008. CED is a term used to denote undernutrition among adults, the survey explained.

It contrasted with the statistics on overweight and obesity cases which were noted at 24 percent in 2003, rising to 26.6 percent in 2008.

The National Capital Region topped the obesity statistics with 24.8 percent, followed by the Cordillera Administration Region (CAR) with 24.4 percent. The lowest figure was in Region I with only 3.5 percent.

The statistics showed that even in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), obesity was estimated at 14.3 percent.