Obesity in South Africa

Summary South Africa has not been spared in the rampant global increase in obesity. Throughout Africa, as elsewhere, ethnicity has a major impact on the incidence and pathogenesis of comorbid diseases, particularly diabetes. Combined figures for obesity and overweight (body mass index [BMI] > 25 kg m −2 ) obtained across all ethnic groups in the adult population in 1998, were 57% for women and 29% for men. From the 1960s until the late 1980s,...