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Illustration: Liat Aloof
We're getting fatter as we get more prosperous and Western
Illustration: Liat Aloof
Photo: AP
Good food marketing techniques are leading to greater consumption of unhealthy foods
Photo: AP

Israelis eating worse, getting fatter

The more Western and prosperous we get, the more our diets resemble those unhealthy practices of Europe and America

Increasing prosperity and Westernization are bringing with them the nutritional and eating problems common in Europe and the U.S., including rising obesity, nutritional deficiencies and increases in fat and sugar intake, recent studies show.

 

Other problems we're beginning to face:

 

  • Women, the poor and Israeli Arabs are suffering the most. Children, on the whole, are healthier than American kids, but are catching up fast in their bad eating habits, egged on by sophisticated marketing.
  • Under-nutrition is rare, but many citizens have less than optimum diets, which may be compared to a car running on “inadequate or low octane fuel.”

 

The background health situation is:

 

  • Major causes of mortality are from cardiovascular disease
  • More than 55 percent of the adult population is overweight or obese
  • 14 percent of women above the age of 45 have osteoporosis
  • 10 percent of adults have hypertension (high blood pressure)
  • 5-6 percent have diabetes (20 percent above 65 years)
  • In women over 75 years, cancer is the leading cause of death
  • Nutrition and lifestyle have a major impact on the development and progression of these non-communicable diseases.

 

Obesity on the Rise

 

Rates of obesity increased with age in both Arab and Jewish population groups and both genders. This trend was particularly noticeable among Arab women: more than 50 percent of them aged 45-54, and 70 percent of those aged 55-64 were obese.

 

After adjusting for age, Arab men were 1.1 times, and Arab women 1.4 times more obese than their Jewish counterparts.

 

Women in the lowest socioeconomic groups were almost four times more likely to be obese than those in the highest ones.

 

With regard to children, preliminary data from the Adolescent Health and Nutrition Survey shows that the situation is better in this age group, compared with that of adults. Only 12.8 percent were at risk for obesity and 5.7 percent were obese.

 

Nevertheless, the results differ in different sectors. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Arab sector was higher than the Jewish, 21.4 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively. Also, the rates were higher among those from lower socioeconomic status.

 

Similar to U.S. 20 years ago

 

It is important to note that these findings are similar to those from the United States two decades ago. Needless to remind us that the current U.S. rates of overweight and obesity among adolescents of 46 percent should mobilize us to act today with prevention programs to stop overweight and obesity from growing in our country.

 

Rapid dietary changes resulting from economic development and market globalization are having a significant impact on the nutritional status of the Israeli population.

 

Data from the Food Balance Sheets reveal that in 50 years there has been a marked increased consumption of an energy dense diet, high in fat and sugar.

 

The nutrition transition is marked by a shift away from diets based on indigenous staple foods, such as grains and pulses, fruits and vegetables, towards more global diets that include more processed food, more foods from animal origin, more added sugar, salt and fat.

 

Currently, 70 percent of the foods are currently imported into the country. This shift, combined with a decline in energy expenditure and leads to a rapid increase in obesity and its associated health problems.

 

Moreover, the dietary habits of the Israeli-Arab community have been moving from the Mediterranean-type diet to ones more like those eaten in northern Europe and the U.S.

 

In Israel there is a wide use of sophisticated and non-sophisticated marketing techniques. As in any place in the world, the industry recognizes that good marketing techniques lead to greater consumption of products, greater profit and frequently, over-consumption.

 

Cheaper is less healthy

 

Children, deluged with marketing messages targeted especially to them are misled. Mass marketing by the food companies dilutes the effect of health promoting messages. The Health Ministry and others who are engaged in health education cannot compete with the budget used by the industry for marketing.

 

Thus, legislation has to be called into this cycle and make its effect to restrain unethical advertising, especially directed at children.

 

As in many other countries, in Israel, unhealthy food items are cheaper than healthier foods. Thus, the poor get the worst of choices. Healthy diet is not accessible for them and thus education and labeling cannot suffice.

 

In fact, the poorest members of society are actually encouraged to make unhealthy choices, because the least healthy choices are the only ones they can afford.

 

Coordinate nutrition campaign, agriculture subsidies

 

In the current global environment, taxation and pricing ("price control") are tools to increase the accessibility of people from low socioeconomic status to a healthier diet.

 

This should be better utilized in Israel. It is worth supporting the link between agricultural policy, including subsidy programs, to the health of our population.

 

A gradual and well coordinated change can have a minimal negative impact on the farmers and economics while making a substantive effect on health. These changes can change the preferences of farmers and hence, promote health even better.

 

It is clear that these plans will not work without strategic alliances and partnerships with the food industry, agriculture and private groups, as in school lunch programs.

 

The key elements, elements, as stated above, are increased accessibility to a healthy diet with education. Continual efforts are being made to promote nutritional knowledge at different levels, such as encouraging breast feeding, school-based interventions for nutrition and exercise and constructing appropriate dietary guidelines.

 

Article adapted from 'Bridges,' an Israeli-Palestinian public health magazine sponsored by World Health Organization. Bridges is written, edited, produced and managed by Palestinian and Israeli academics and health professionals. Contact 'Bridges' at bridges@who-health.org 

 

Dr. Dorit Nitzan Kalulski is Director of the Israeli Health Ministry's Food and Nutrition Administration. Dr. Ted Tulchinsky is Associate Professor at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and active in development of schools of public health in former Soviet countries. Dr. Elliot M. Berry is the Director of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Head of the Department of Nutrition and Human Metabolism

פרסום ראשון: 04.19.05, 16:56
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