The number of overweight or obese adults is on the rise in Portugal but so are rates of extreme thinness among youths worried about their physical appearance, a study showed.

Nearly two-fifths of all Portuguese 18-65 year-olds, 37 percent, are overweight and 15 percent are obese, meaning their health is significantly threatened, the study of more than 5,000 people completed in June found.

This is an increase from 1995 when a similar study carried out by the same researchers found 35 percent of adults were overweight and just over 14 percent were obsese.

"Eating habits have changed in Portugal and people are eating more fat and sweets which are higher in calories," nutritionist Isabel do Carmo, who headed the team which carried out the study stated.

At the same time the study found 8.6 percent of all 18 and 19 year olds were extremely thin, more than double the rate found in the same age group in 1995, suggesting a sharp rise in eating disorders among youths.

"This indicates that there are people in these age groups that, because of their horror of obesity, are ending up in a situation of malnutrition," Do Carmo said.

Rates of obesity were higher among 50-59 year-olds and the poor, whose diets contain more fatty foods which are often less expensive, while rates of extreme thinness among teenagers involved mostly women, she said.

Do Carmo recommended that the government ban vending machines which sell sweets and soft drinks from all schools and ban advertising for junk food during children's television programming in order to fight the rise in obesity.

Anyone with a body mass index -- a ratio between height and weight -- of 30 or above is considered obeese while those with a ratio between 25 and 30 are conisdered overweight.

A body mass index under 18.5 is considered underweight and there is risk of disease.

Reference Source 89
September 29, 2004

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