Obesity has become a world-wide epidemic with 1,3 billion people being either overweight or obese according to the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), which has released a study.
It is estimated that in South Africa 32 men and 68 women die every day from the impact of obesity or being overweight.
The MRC study, titled "Obesity in South Africa", shows that more than 29 percent of men and 56 percent of women in South Africa are obese.
The International Classification of Diseases has specified that obesity is a disease in its own right and increases the risk of developing hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.
The general definition of obesity is when a person's body mass is too great for their height. The Body Mass Index (BMI) is measured by one's weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. If a person's BMI is 30kg/m² or higher he or she is obese.
Research by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of South Africa has estimated that obesity contributed to 4 percent of the total number of deaths in men and 10 percent of the total number of deaths in women 30 years or older in 2000.
The prevalence of obesity in South Africa was higher than other African countries.
The first South Africa Demographics and Health Survey, published in 2002, showed that black women had the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity, with 58,5 percent found to be overweight followed by 52 percent of coloured, 49 percent of white and 48,9 percent of Indian women.
Urban women had a higher body mass index than that of rural women and this increased with age. This differed to the pattern in men where prevalence of obesity was highest among
white men, with 54 percent of those surveyed found to be overweight or obese. This was followed by Indian men, with 32,7 percent being obese or overweight and then 31 percent of coloured men. African men had the lowest prevalence of obesity with 25 percent.
But the Heart and Stroke Foundation study has shown that while there was high prevalence of obesity in South Africa, people did not consider themselves obese.
Of all the African women surveyed by the foundation only 16 percent considered themselves obese but nearly 59 percent were, in fact, obese.
In contrast, more white women thought they were obese than was the case with 54 percent of those surveyed feeling they needed to shed a few kilograms, but only 49 percent were found to be actually clinically obese.
Obesity in children has also become a concern and the MRC study, which has the most recent figures, shows that in 2002 more than 17 percent of South African adolescents were overweight and 4.2 percent were obese.
The study suggests there is a significant problem of over-nutrition in adults and young women and urban black men.
Factors determining obesity have been estimated with 75 percent of body fat and total fat mass is determined by culture and lifestyle and 25 percent can be attributed to genetic factors.
In South Africa the increase in urbanisation and the adoption of westernised diets has been seen as factors causing excessive increases in calorie intake and resulting in obesity.
While dietary intake has been seen as one of the leading factors contributing to obesity, increased physical activity is seen as one method of combating it.
The MRC study suggests that policy changes aimed at promoting physical activity, dietary education in schools and primordial prevention of obesity in children should be promoted to fight the disease.