Smoking
gives way to obesity in Singapore
South China Morning Post April 9, 1999
DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR in Singapore
DESPITE smoking less and exercising more, Singaporeans are seeing
their weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels rise.
A survey conducted last year compared the health profiles of 4700 adults aged from 18 to 69 with a study from 1992, the Straits Times said.
The survey found that 23.7 per cent of Singaporeans were obese, compared with 16.7 per cent in 1992.
High blood pressure had risen from 22 to 27 per cent, translating into 650,000 people at high risk of a stroke in the prosperous city-state.
The proportion of adults with high cholesterol levels had risen from one in five in 1992 to one in four last year, researchers found.
This amounted to more than 600,000 Singaporeans with high cholesterol levels.
Published in the South China Morning Post. April 9, 1999.