By the way, there is a general feeling that obesity is an issue of the occident. But, the highest rise in obesity is seen in countries outside Europe and the US.

For instance, take this case of a small region in Kerala. Dr Manu Raj and Dr Krishna Kumar of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre in Ernakulam district, recently concluded a study on hypertension with respect to obesity, in children. The study, which was taken up a few years ago, shed light on the phenomenal rise in childhood obesity and its relation to hypertension. Overweight/obese children were found to have high blood pressure in the study; the project was funded by Indian Council of Medical Research.

"This is the first comprehensive and extensive study carried out in the country on obesity and hypertension," claims the doctors, who add that they examined more than 24,000 students for the purpose. They used a method to select a representative sample of the children from both private and government schools scattered over urban and rural areas. Data including height and weight were collected from 24,842 students between the age 5 and 16, during 2003-04. Blood pressure details were taken in addition to growth data from 20,263 students during 2005-06.

Children with body mass index (BMI) greater than 85 percentile of reference data were considered overweight and those with BMI greater than 95 percentile were considered obese. (BMI= weight in kg divided by height in square metre.)

"Obesity is an extreme form of overweight where the health issues are more common and serious. Obese adolescents have 80% chance of becoming obese adults unless proper measures are taken, " explains Dr Manuraj.

The percentage of overweight children, increased from 4.94% in 2003 to 6.57% in 2005. This meant an alarming 33% increase in a short span of two years. Interestingly, the increasing trend was seen more in urban regions and in private schools, compared to government schools. High blood pressure was found in 17.34% of the overweight/obese children compared to 10.1% of the normal students.

Winding up the study, the doctors tried to pinpoint the causative factors of obesity. Unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity are the major "culprits", they noted. The sedentary lifestyle of children and adolescents was attributed mainly to television viewing, computer games, internet, overemphasis on academic excellence, unscientific urban planning and dependence on ever-increasing automated transport.