Obesity In Canada

A multiple factors are responsible to contribute development of obesity, some may be hereditary or biological traits that differ between different individuals related to body weight, environmental and socioeconomic and behavioural factors. Excess body weight also affects quality of life a person lives, education (difficulty in concentration), income potential and increases risk of mortality . Lifestyle modification is one of the important aspects to overcome this problem of obesity. The main purpose of this study is to understand the classification of obesity, the prevalence of obesity among Canadian population, what are the risk factors associated

Aboriginal people before contact dependent on natural food sources consumed healthy food. European contact brought in processed food, white rice, sugar which are not so healthy and contain more starch and decreased nutritional values. Aboriginal people became dependent on these new forms of food which lead to huge dietary modification in their life. According to Kuhnlein. H. V, Receveur. O, Soueida. R, Egeland. G. M 2004, “ Indigenous Peoples globally are part of the nutrition transition. Overall obesity of Arctic adults exceeded all – Canadian rates.” In this study, the author’s did a study on Canadian arctic population (First nation, Metis, Inuit) about consumption of traditional food pre-contact with Europeans and variation of consumption in elder, adults and children. Artic people’s total diet, their traditional food habits and Body mass Index were assessed. At the end of study, it was recorded that only 10 – 36 % of the energy considered to be derived from Traditional food habits; Adults of age group more than 40 years were consistent in consuming the traditional food as compared to younger

Childhood obesity is a strong risk factor.” From this study, it is clear that obesity is directly associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes in aboriginal population. Early screening of Aboriginal Canadians at a younger age will in taking preventive actions against obesity which will further help in adapting a healthy lifestyle to reduce its future risk of associated diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. (Wood - Steimen, P,