SGER: Understanding the Nutrition Transition in Urban Colombia: A First Step

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The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity on a global scale is a new phenomenon in human evolutionary history. While this is generally attributed to the emergence of obesogenic environments combined with an evolutionary heritage that has favored fatness, many questions remain unanswered. This especially true for Latin America where rates of overweight and obesity appear to be rising rapidly, but little is known about the nature of the environmental factors assumed to be causal. The main goal of this project is to assess the change in the prevalence of overweight and obesity that has occurred in women in Cali, Colombia in the past 20 years. This will be accomplished by collecting height and weight data that can be compared to the baseline data collected in 1987-88 from the same population. The baseline data was collected from a large sample of women in three SES (socioeconomic) groups, and the proposed project will collect data from the same three groups. If data from the proposed project documents a significant increase in overweight and obesity, the next step will be to design a new research project aimed at assessing the changes in the environmental factors responsible for the increase, that is to assess the emergence of an obesogenic environment. This new project will again focus on women in Cali, Colombia because of the availability of baseline data on dietary intake, physical activity and relevant aspects of the food-related environment for a large sample of these women. The availability of such baseline data is unique for Latina America and will make it possible to test hypotheses related to two of the components thought to characterize obesogenic environments, namely high fat, energy dense diets and reduced opportunities for physical activity. The baseline data will also make it possible to test hypotheses related to a number of other potential factors, such as food availability, food variety, the use of convenience foods, and the frequency of restaurant meals.