HEALTH INDUSTRY

EATING OUR WAY TO ILL HEALTH?

Westernised food habits are ruining many Sri Lankans' healthy lifestyles, claims Janaka Perera.

A few years ago, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) reported a dramatic increase in the prevalence of type-two diabetes amongst South Asians - predominantly Indians, Sri Lankans, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis - in the UK and other parts of the world. According to the November 2003 issue of the BMJ, the highest death rate due to coronary heart disease was amongst South Asians. There has been no significant change in this unfortunate situation to date.

The BMJ attributes this to wrong food habits and lower levels of physical activity. It notes: "Increasing fatness is becoming common among Westernised South Asians, owing to cultural and environmental influences - in particular, Western influences on the traditional South-Asian diet."

Education is obviously the first step towards arresting this trend. Primarily, people have to be warned against the consumption of highly palatable, energy-dense foods and reduced physical activity.
In recent times, corporate-sector advertisers, more than doctors and nutritionists, have been trying to educate consumers about this dangerous trend. Once, a leading Sri Lankan food manufacturer ran a television advertisement which showed a young man walking into a restaurant, carrying a packet of sausages and eating its content. As other customers were attracted to this particular brand of sausages, the man triumphantly stated that sausages have 'always' been a part of our traditional diet. When did sausages become a part of the Sri Lankan's traditional diet?
The advertisement ran counter to the dietary habits of people whose food culture is rooted in many indigenous vegetables, fruit, red rice and varieties of grain. Meat, let alone sausages, was the least-consumed food item - except among the Veddas - in ancient Sri Lanka. Public protests compelled the manufacturer to withdraw this. And laws should be framed to enable the prosecution of advertisers who mislead the uneducated and the young into developing a preference for junk food over healthy meals.

To paraphrase the words of a Western wine manufacturer (quoted in MEDIASPEAK) who refused to advertise his product: "If you spend enough on advertising, you can get humans to consume waste that even a hungry hog would not eat."

The real tragedy is that no one has really calculated the cost to the country - vis-à-vis medical expenditure and hospitalisation - resulting from the promotion of junk food. Today, we find teenagers as young as 14 suffering from diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

A Department of Census And Statistics report for 2002 confirmed the BMJ's view that Sri Lankans, among other South Asians, are fast moving away from traditional food items and are becoming more Westernised in their food habits. They have begun to consume more powdered milk, margarine, chicken and other meats, eggs, potatoes, beetroot and cabbages rather than the high-calorie kurakkan, kathuru murunga, sweet potatoes, jak, green gram and spinach - all of which are indigenous. It also noted that the rice consumption of an average Sri Lankan family has fallen by 11.4 per cent.

According to the departmental survey, reported in the Lankadeepa last November, rice consumption among Sri Lankans islandwide has fallen by nearly three kilogrammes within the short span of six years (1995/96 to 2002). And in urban areas, there has been a further reduction (nearly three-and-a-half kilos) of rice consumption. The consumption of bread among urban dwellers has been more than that of the plantation and rural sectors, states the report.

Indigenous medical practitioner Chandrasena Withana Arachchi says that these food habits are unsuited to Sri Lanka's climatic conditions and the natives' physical make-up. Moreover, this has largely contributed to gastritis, obesity and diabetes among many Sri Lankans. He accentuates the need for the public to return to indigenous foods.

The ignorant who still sing the praises of meat consumption forget that early humans had low-fat diets and a highly-active lifestyle, walking as much as 20 miles a day in search of food. Today, doctors largely agree that less meat consumption - at least, at a certain age - contributes to a healthy life, although vegetarianism continues to be subject to controversy amongst the medical fraternity as well as the general public.

Dispelling many perceptions, Sri Lanka's Olympic gold-medal winner Chinthana Vidanage - the village lad from Polonnaruwa who won the weightlifting event at the international games - said during an interview on a radio programme that he was a vegetarian.

As the BMJ avers: "Knowledge of the risks of increasing fatness is poor among many South-Asian communities and it is clear that culturally appropriate intervention as are required that involved a whole community."

According to London-qualified nutrition and dietetics specialist Dr. Damayanthi Perera, the lack of professionally qualified and experienced nutritionists and dieticians has compelled the majority of Sri Lankans to take expensive drugs to treat diabetes and cholesterol, rather than trying out the initial dietary and lifestyle changes and weight loss recommended by recognised medical authorities the world over.

She notes that there is overwhelming scientific evidence from epidemiological, dietary and intervention data that what is caused by modern diets and contemporary lifestyles can be effectively prevented and controlled through simple changes in diet and lifestyle, keeping in line with evolutionary diets and lifestyles. Her key message is: "The answer to the prevention of diabetes and heart disease lies not in our medicine chest - but in our rice sack, and the fruit and vegetable rack."
