Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions-was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing-and in some countries reversal-of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.Peer reviewe

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions

Health promoting behaviours of the elderly in Myanmar

Aging is a lifelong and inevitable process. As a human being, every person wants to have a long life. With the aim to promote active and healthy ageing, the Ministry of Health implemented the elderly health care project in Myanmar since 1992-1993. This programme is based on comprehensive health care; promotion, preventive, curative and rehabilitative care. Elderly health care programme has been implemented in 161 townships by the end of year 2013 but nationwide is not yet. Nurses in Myanmar involve in the elderly health care project as a significant contribution to the health of elderly population. There is a little research that demonstrates effectiveness in quantifiable measuring health promotion practices in the elderly. There is a definite need for the elderly population to practice health promotion to improve the quality of life as their life span lengthens. This study will also encourage the nurses to better help the elderly to move to increase health promotion practices. That is why it is needed to investigate the health promoting behaviors of elderly people. This cross sectional descriptive study was done to assess health promoting behaviors of the elderly in the community. 69 elderly people aged 60 years and above including males and females who live in Chan Mya Thar Si Township, Mandalay was conducted. The Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II) developed by Walker, Sechrist, and Pender (1995) was used as a research instrument and analyzed manually. The findings of this study revealed that there were 62% (n = 43) of the elderly had healthy behavior in nutrition and 38% (n = 26) of the elderly had unhealthy behavior in nutrition. Regarding physical activity, 33% (n = 23) of the elderly had healthy behavior and 67% (n = 46) had unhealthy behavior. In managing stress, the majority of participants 93% (n = 64) had healthy behavior and only 7% (n=5) were unhealthy in stress management. Concerning interpersonal relations, 59% (n = 64) were healthy and 41% (n = 28) were unhealthy. 38% (n = 25) of healthy behavior of the elderly and 64% (n = 44) of unhealthy behavior of the elderly in health responsibility, 78% (n = 54) of healthy behavior of the elderly and 22% (n = 15) of unhealthy behavior of the elderly in spiritual growth. Overall, there were 55% (n = 38) in healthy behavior and 45% (n = 31) in unhealthy behavior in this community. This quantitative study showed that the overall behavior in their community was healthier. According to this study, the areas which needed to investigate and improve in their physical activities and their taking health responsibility

Study on Adsorption Activity of Activated Carbon Prepared from Groundnut Shell for Colour Removal of Cottage Textile Industrial Effluent

In this research, the adsorbent (activated groundnut shell carbon) was prepared from groundnut shells for the removal of colour in cottage textile industrial effluents. Activated groundnut shell carbon (AGC) was prepared by carbonization at 600◦C for 30 minutes and activation with 2N H2SO4. Physico-chemical properties of activated groundnut shell carbon was measured by SEM. Then, selected different process parameters like effect of pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time and initial effluent concentration were investigated for adsorption study to reduce colour in cottage textile industrial effluent. Colour removal efficiencies of activated groundnut shell carbon were determined by using UV spectrophotometer. Treated cottage industrial effluents were characterized by biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD). Heavy metal contents of treated cottage textile industrial effluents were analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Results indicated that AGC was strongly colour adsorbed at pH-4. Maximum colour removal efficiency (99.8 %) of AGC was obtained by treating with the amount of 1.2 g for the contact time of 2 hr. Results suggested that BOD and COD contents of cottage textile industrial effluents were efficiently reduced to (30.77%), and Cd to (44 %) by AGC

Multi-surrogate-assisted metaheuristics for crashworthiness optimisation

This work proposes a multi-surrogate-assisted optimisation and performance investigation of several newly developed metaheuristics (MHs) for the optimisation of vehicle crashworthiness. The optimisation problem for car crashworthiness is posed to find the shape and size of a crash box while the objective function is to maximise the total energy absorption subject to a mass constraint. Two main numerical experiments are conducted. Firstly, the performance of different surrogate models along with the proposed multi-surrogate model is investigated. Secondly, several MHs are applied to tackle the proposed crashworthiness optimisation problem by employing the best obtained surrogate model. The results reveal that the proposed multi-surrogate model is the best performer. Among the several MHs used in this study, sine cosine algorithm is the best algorithm for the proposed multi-surrogate model. Based on this study, the application of the proposed multi-surrogate model is better than using one particular traditional surrogate model, especially for constrained optimisation.Thailand Research Fund (TRF

A century of trends in adult human height

International audienc

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions