This is according to Thandi Puoane, professor in the University of the Western Cape school of public health and head of the PURE study in South Africa.
At the 9th Public Health Association of South Africa conference in Cape Town yesterday, 26 September 2013, her team presented findings of a recent study into obesity and hypertension. They found that 50% of participants were obese and more than two-thirds, predominantly women, had hypertension.
The study is a continuing investigation of societal influences on lifestyle choices and risk factors.
Puoane said there were many cheap foodstuffs, filled with too much sugar and fats, that were imported and targeted at the poor. These were a major contributor to obesity.
Obesity put an added strain on the health system because it raised the likelihood of strokes and diabetes.
"The government needs to regulate food that is imported and what is sold in shops. For example, you find that chicken breasts are sold in the city but the skins and fat are sold in the township and poor people buy them."
Participants in the study were from Mount Frere, in rural Eastern Cape, and Langa, a township in Cape Town.
The prevalence of obesity and hypertension was found to be higher in urban than in rural communities.
Source: The Times
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