NEW DELHI: A maiden survey of Non-Communicable Disease risk factors, have revealed that Punjab is neither eating, nor living healthy. One-third of it is leading a sedentary life, two-third is obese and overweight, 41 per cent is suffering from hypertension, and 87 per cent is taking more salt daily than prescribed.
Conducted by PGI, Chandigarh, the study is the first of its kind across the country. The 2014-15 study, spread over 15 months, has recorded every district in the state. It studied six established NCD risk factors in depth; low fruit and vegetable intake, low physical activity, obesity, high blood pressure, smoking, and harmful alcohol use.
"Around 72 per cent people said they were not engaging in vigorous activity at all," said PGI's JS Thakur, principal investigator of the study. He said only 1 per cent of the participants were free from all six risk factors, while 60 per cent had at least one. "There is an urgent need to implement evidence-based interventions to lower the consequences and costs of these conditions," the survey said., published in US-based journal Public Library of Science.
"Body mass index is a major benchmark for obesity. We found 28.6 per cent of participants overweight with BMI of more than 25 kg/m2, the cap WHO recommends. Around 12.8 per cent are obese with BMI above 30 kg/m2," Thakur said.
