AN INVESTIGATION OF THE SOCIOECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF OBESITY IN NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Obesity is an excessive or abnormal fat accumulation that may impair health if drastic actions are not taken. (Ellulu, Abed, Rahmat, Ranneh & Ali;(2014). It is a deadly non communicable disease which is gaining increasing importance globally and emanates as a result of excessive food intake containing fats, sugar dense meals and a reduction in physical activities. Also, obesity occurs as a result of an imbalance between energy intake and energy output leading to the accumulation of fats in the body (Thiam, Samba,& Lwanga;(2006). The World Health Organisation (WHO, 2014) states that Obesity is an abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health which occurs in individuals with body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 kilogram per metre square (kg/m2) for overweight individuals and a body mass index greater than 30 kilogram per metre square (kg/m2) for obese individuals. They went further to state that these cut-off points provide a bench mark for individuals assessment.
Studies carried out in Nigeria by (Abubakari, Lauder, Agymang, Jones, Kirk,& Bhopal 2008; Iloh, Amadi, Nwankwo, & Ugwu 2011; Chinedu, & Emiloju 2014; Onyechi,& Okolo;(2008) found out that a higher prevalence of obesity exist among women by 62.0% compared with men by 41.9% and Research carried out in the Western part of Nigeria also shows a higher obesity prevalence of 28% in women compared to 21% in men (Kadiri,& Salako 1997). The higher prevalence of obesity among the women may be attributed to physical inactivity than males, changes in the energy density of diets and sedentary life style. To buttress this claim, Wahab, Sani, Yusuf, Gbadamosi & Yandutse (2011) observed that women from the Northern part of Nigeria are engaged in sedentary life style, they also noted that there are women who never worked but preferred being full house wives and engagement in physical exercise is not a common activity in the general population of the North.
The prevalence of obesity has greatly affected the Nigerian economy as there are no adequate measures taken in creating awareness and reorientation programmes by health based action group in collaboration with the government to educate consumers on proper food intake and health maintenance thereby leading to a decrease in output per capital (Ekpenyong & Akpan 2013). Also, uneducated households belonging to the low socioeconomic class are not well informed, unable to understand nutritional labels and make decisions on their diet, thereby making unhealthy product choices.
