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Half of Tunisians are overweight

February 16, 2018 at 12:15 pm

A traditional fast food place in Tunis, Tunisia [gonanaimo/Twitter]

Poor lifestyle, unhealthy diets and a lack of exercise are to blame for half of the Tunisian population being overweight, a new report claims.

Issued by the Pharmaceutical Company of Tunisia Information, the publication revealed that obesity rates in Tunisia are at around 50 per cent with women most affected by obesity and cardiovascular disease.

According to the organisation’s President Dr Chadlia Fendri, Tunisia is currently ranked fourth in the world for obesity rates according to the World Health Organisation.

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Avoiding breastfeeding and general weight gain during pregnancy for women has added to many becoming overweight and is a cause for their children to also become overweight, according to Zahra Marrakchi the head of Neonatology and Neonatal Resuscitation at the Charles Nicolle Hospital.

However, according to preliminary results from the Tunisian Health Examination Survey 2016, released last year, 64.5 per cent of Tunisians are overweight – 72.4 per cent are women – and 30 per cent are obese.

The same study also revealed that 19 per cent of Tunisians over the age of 15 are diabetic, 36.4 per cent have high blood pressure and 5.1 per cent suffer from depression.