Obesity weighs down on Tunisian women

MEN AND WOMEN in Tunisia are not equal before the scales. Tunisian women are three times as likely to suffer from obesity as their male compatriots. This great inequality was revealed in a study* by Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and its partners (1), and differs from what nutritionists have observed in the North, where more men tend to be overweight. The disparity is even greater in cities: a sedentary lifestyle, temptations offered by mass-market retail… Their role in society makes women particularly vulnerable to risk factors in an urban environment. Body mass index (BMI) is also increasing among those with a lower education level and without employment, further broadening the difference from their masculine counterparts. 
A BMI above 25 increases health risks: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure… The latter already affects nearly a third of all Tunisians above the age of 35, of which almost a million are obese today. Prevention is better than cure: healthcare authorities must aim their actions at the population segment that is most at risk, namely women.

In Tunisia today, one out of four inhabitants over the age of 35 is obese, in other words nearly a million people. Urbanisation, a sedentary lifestyle, temptations offered by mass-market retail… Tunisians are seeing the waistlines thickening. Or Tunisian women, to be more specific: women in this age category are much more affected, with nearly 40% suffering from obesity, compared to less than 15% of the men. This great disparity has been brought to light by IRD researchers and their partners (1). Nutritionists are noticing this trend in the majority of emerging and developing countries. The opposite is true in industrialised countries in the Global North where men and women are more or less equal before the scales, or where men even tend to be more corpulent (2). Until now, little research has been done regarding gender inequality in terms of overweight. Tunisia is one of the countries where this trend in appears to be the strongest.

Women, a population segment at risk

Researchers have studied a representative sample of more than 5,000 Tunisian men and women between the ages of 35 and 70 from all social categories, urban as well as rural. They evaluated their BMI, which, if above 25, qualifies the person as overweight. Anything over 30 is considered as obese. According to scientists’ calculations, the national prevalence of overweight in the studied age group in Air Jordan Westbrook 0.2