Obesity and Cardiovascular Diseases:

The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity is relevant not only in developed nations but also recently, in developing countries of Africa. Given that obesity is associated with morbidity and mortality from several health conditions including cardiovascular diseases this has attracted growing concern. In addition, scientific evidence is accumulating regarding the links between diet, obesity and the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. Africa is diverse in vegetation, culture and therefore, dietary habits. However, the typical African diet (with regional variations) is composite in nature, with whole grains or tubers usually being the staple, accompanied with legumes, leafy and non leafy vegetables, meat or fish and vegetable fat. Such a composition appears to carry a low risk for obesity, though recently, studies suggest that Africans, especially in the urban areas are gradually departing from this traditional dietary pattern toward a western diet high in saturated fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates and low in fibre thereby significantly raising this risk. Africa is the least urbanized continent, but has the fastest rate of urbanization in the world. This development has greatly influenced African feeding habits and physical activity patterns, and has been associated with rapid changes in the prevalence of obesity and other nutrition-related chronic diseases. Yet a lingering concern is that child undernutrition remains a compelling public health issue, especially as the outcome of this nutritional transition in such undernourished children includes metabolic risks in adult life, thus presenting another dimension to the burden of cardiovascular disease in the continent. Timely dietary and lifestyle intervention will go a long way in the prevention of obesity and its associated cardiovascular disease risk in Africa. Emphasis should be placed on nutrition and lifestyle interventions to sustain the consumption of healthy traditional diets. Although this will require financial investments, these are small when compared with the resources needed for the treatment and management of cardiovascular diseases, as well as the losses due to morbidity and mortality.