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India has reclassified 70 million more people as overweight after the threshold for being obese is lowered to 25.
The threshold has been decreased in India after expert opined that people of South Asian origin are more likely than white people to develop heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Indian health Chiefs have changed their measuring system and said that other countries should follow suit for people of South Asian origin.
Pav Kalsi, care adviser at Diabetes-UK, said, “We know that T-2 diabetes, which is linked to being overweight, is up to six times more common in South Asian people than the white population.”
According to the standards used worldwide, people with a body mass index (BMI) calculated using weight and height of 25 or more are overweight and they are obese if it goes above 30. Those limits have been lowered to 23 in India for being overweight and 25 for being obese. Indians also have lower thresholds for waist circumference measurements.
Anoop Misra, who guided in drawing up India’s guidelines, said that the new measures should be applied for people with a South Asian background wherever they live.
He added, “They should be followed for South Asians- Indian, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nepalis, they are almost similar. So for the time being, until guidelines for other population groups are available, I think this should be applicable for all south Asians not only in the UK, but in any country of the world.”
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