It is pretty common knowledge that America is one of the most obese nations but we have news for you: South Africa is hot on their heals.

South Africa has the highest overweight and obesity rate in sub-Saharan Africa: seven out of 10 women and four out of 10 men have significantly more body fat than what is deemed healthy, according to a groundbreaking new study published in the medical journal, the Lancet, on Thursday.

Yes, it must be conceded that the several war-ravaged and desperately poor countries in Africa definitely are not a good comparison for our comparatively stable and booming economy but obesity is a highly preventable and pretty serious health problem.

It is not that a fuller figure can’t be sexy, or that the stick thin images of beauty we are force-fed shouldn’t be challenged, but there are very serious, (and did we mention very preventable) health risks caused by obesity and being seriously overweight.

While SA is still not doing terribly on the global scale of rapidly increasing rates of obesity and overweight people, it is a problem we do not need when we are still battling diseases that thrive on poverty and malnutrition.

According to a co-author of the Lancet study, Christopher Murray, not a single country has managed to reduce its obesity rate in the past three decades. “We expect obesity to rise steadily as incomes rise in low and middle-income countries in particular, unless urgent steps are taken to address this public health crisis.” 

You heard him, get off your butts, cut out the sugar and get to the gym!

[Source: Mail&Guardian]