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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
Despite a food crisis, Filipinos are getting too
fat as they consume more rice a day than the required amount, the
National Statistical Coordination Board said.
Romulo Virola, the secretary-general of the
statistical board, on Tuesday said that based on the latest Food
Balance Sheets produced by the agency, Filipinos eat an average of
261.8 grams of rice a day in 1990. This intake represents an
increase of around 0.68 percent annually from 1991 to 2001, when it
reached its highest level of 284.1 grams a day.
The Philippines, with a daily consumption of
rice amounting to 33,000 metric tons, imports less than 10 percent
of its annual consumption of the staple. The government needs to
import 2.1 million metric tons of rice for 2008 to supplement local
production of rice.
“No wonder, these days, you see too many
big-bellied Pinoys [local slang for Filipinos]. And no wonder gyms
and liposuction experts do brisk business,” Virola said.
In 2003, he added, a typical one-day food
consumption of Filipinos was 886 grams, or 83 grams more or 10.3
percent higher compared with that in 2001.
In 2001, a Filipino’s average diet comprised
largely of rice and products at 35.1 percent; vegetables, 13.2
percent; and fish and products, 18.3 percent.
“In 2003, Pinoys ate more rice and products,
vegetables and fish, but we consumed less corn and products and
fruits. We even consumed more beverages [17 grams more] in 2003.
Effect of global warming, maybe?” Virola asked.
He stressed that the number of overweight or
obese adult Filipinos has been increasing from 1993, reaching 24
percent in 2003, with relatively more women being overweight at 27.3
percent than men, 20.9 percent.
Virola said both women and men show increases in
the prevalence of overweight or obese among them, with adult women
having the highest percentage-point increase of 8.7 from 1993 to
2003.
“Does this mean that Dabiana, Donya Buding and
Kim Sam Soon are leaving their bellyprints in the sands of time? If
we treasure corpulence like men in Mauritania where ‘obesity has
long been the ideal of beauty,’ why would we mind?” he said.
Dabiana was a comic character that made it to
local movies in the 1980s. Donya Buding was a television character
created by comedian Nanette Inventor, also in the 1980s. Also a
television character, Kim Sam Soon is the name of the lead star in a
so-called telenovela from South Korea that currently is said to rate
high among television viewers. All three women are on the heavy
side.
Virola said the waist circumference, or WC, of
men is greater than the threshold of 2.4 percent set by the World
Health Organization in 2003 and that of women also greater than the
17-percent threshold.
Waist circumference is another measure of the
amount of body fat or adipose tissue other than Body Mass Index, or
BMI.
Except for ascorbic acid, Filipinos consumed
more energy and other essential nutrients in 2003 than in 2001, with
energy and vitamin A posting significant increases of 221 grams in
2003 and 63.3 grams in 2001.
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