Eulalee Thompson - BE WELL
The global financial crisis might cause many people to scale back on servings of ham, pudding and sorrel this Christmas but we should also watch our diets for our health's sake. You see, the burden of the lifestyle diseases (the chronic non-communicable disease or CNCDs) is escalating in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean
Professor Rainford Wilks, principal investigator, TMRI's epidemiology unit, University of the West Indies, in reporting the findings of Jamaica's latest lifestyle survey, the Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey, JHLS 2008, said that the CNCDs account for 60 per cent of the disease burden in the region. Globally, these diseases account for 43 per cent of the disease burden and 60 per cent of all deaths. Let's look at the changes in the prevalence of some common CNCDs between JHLS 2000 and JHLS 2008, as presented recently by Wilks.
| Disease | JHLS 2000 | JHLS 2008 |
| Diabetes | 7.2 | 7.9 |
| Hypertension | 20.9 | 25.2 |
| Pre-hypertension | 29.9 | 35.3 |
| High Cholesterol | 14.6 | 11.7 |
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Based on this data, the prevalence of diabetes, hypertension and pre-hypertension have all increased. Inactive population Wilks said that obesity appears to be "the driver of the epidemic of CNCDs". In JHLS 2008, about 25.3 per cent of Jamaica's population was found to be obese compared with 19.7 per cent in JHLS 2000. Based on this survey's findings, women bear the greater burden of obesity than men in a ratio of three to one. It's not entirely surprising that so many Jamaicans are obese and that the prevalence appears to be increasing, since as many as 30 per cent of them say that they are physically inactive (43 per cent of women say they are physically inactive versus 16 per cent of men) and almost 40 per cent reported low levels of physical activity. The data on the eating habits of Jamaicans also tell a story. Only 0.5 per cent of Jamaicans say that they eat more than three servings of vegetables per day - 99.5 per cent say that they eat fewer than two vegetable servings per day. On fruit consumption, only 1.2 per cent of Jamaicans have more than two servings per day while 98.8 per cent have less than one serving per day. The usual recommendation is for at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Food preparation methods also promote ill-health with as many as one-third of the population reporting that they fry the protein portions of their meals. Snapshots of some JHLS 2008 findings
Hypertension, obesity, high cholesterol and depression occur in one in every five persons. One in 10 persons has diabetes mellitus. Hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol increase in older persons while obesity peaks and depression is lowest in middle age. Obesity and hypertension prevalence have increased significantly by 5.6 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively. Diabetes and pre-hypertension have increased by 0.7 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively and high cholesterol decreased by 2.9 per cent between 2000 and 2008. Eulalee Thompson is health editor and a professional counsellor; email: eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com. |
