High calorie diet is the main reason for obesity, change in eating habits is necessary to stay healthy:

News Topical, Digital Desk : Increasing obesity has become a cause of concern for people. It has become the cause of many diseases. Studies are being conducted in different countries regarding this. According to a study, high calorie intake along with lack of exercise can be the main cause of obesity globally.

Many experts have suggested that rising obesity rates are due to a decrease in physical activity as a result of industrialisation. Findings by researchers at Duke University in the US suggest that people in rich countries expend the same or more energy per day than those in less prosperous countries.

What does the study say?

Herman Pontzer, lead researcher and professor in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University, said that it is clear that the main cause of obesity is a change in diet, not a decrease in activity. Recently, an article was published in the journal PNAS. In this, the researchers analyzed thousands of measurements of daily energy expenditure, body fat percentage and body mass index (BMI) of more than 4,200 adults aged 18 to 60 in 34 populations on six continents.

The researchers said that while there was a modest decrease in total energy expenditure with size with economic development, variations in total energy expenditure explained only a fraction of the increase in body fat with development. "This suggests that other factors, such as changes in diet, are driving the increase in body fat with economic development," said Amanda McGroskey, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at Duke. McGroskey is now an assistant professor of biology at Elon University in the US.

Exercise and diet both are important

Importantly, these findings do not tell us that efforts to promote physical activity should be reduced. Instead, the data support an emerging consensus that both eating and exercise should be prioritised. Eating and physical activity should be seen as essential and complementary to each other, not interchangeable," the study said. The team will now work on identifying which aspects of diet are most responsible for the rise in obesity in developed and developing countries.

Apart from this, unhealthy food, sedentary lifestyle, genetic factors and some medical conditions also contribute to obesity. Apart from this, stress, depression can also contribute to obesity. The causes of increasing obesity include consumption of foods containing high amounts of fat, sugar and salt and excessive consumption of junk food. Lack of adequate sleep and polluted environment can also lead to weight gain.