Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Overweight and obesity can be defined as body weight that is above normal for height as a result of an excessive accumulation of fat. It is usually a manifestation of over nourishment. Overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of more than 25 but less than 30 and obesity as a BMI of 30 or more by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is well known that inappropriate diets can give rise to obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases such as atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, respiratory diseases and certain cancers. All of these conditions are more or less determined by what we eat, and the debates about what to eat to avoid disease are almost countless. Therefore, Nutrition Survey (2010) was intensively done by The National Health in Turkey. According to the dates of the survey, overweight ratio between men and women adults were find to be 39% and 30% respectively. On the other hand, obesity ratio was supplied 20% for man and 41% for women. The overweight and obesity ratio between the 1-20 years of old group were given 18% both for boys and girls. It seems that overweight and obesity are increasing day by day in Turkey as other several counties. Since at the beginning of millennium, the Ministry of Health has achieved the development goal obesity target plan to reduce or prevent weight gain all over the country. The aim of this plan is that nutrition is national priority and a healthy diet should be considered human right. Nutritional and food security should also have the same priority. Enhanced nutrition education, public health information campaigns and healthy food supply policies are included into this plan. The main goal of nutrition education is to inform people as to what constitutes a healthy, balanced diet, as well as how to improve their diet and lifestyle. Interventions aimed at children in schools, contents of their food box and the school canteens in which foods are selling. Once a day, milk services are supplied for the primary school children. Public health information campaigns are the most common type of nutrition intervention employed in communities. Particular educational target should be mothers of young children, promoting prenatal balanced diets and postnatal feeding practices especially breast feeding, as well as family nutrition needs. As the parent most responsible for household nutrition and child care, women, particularly young women, are an important target for nutrition edu�¬cation. Consumer poli�¬cies and appropriate nutrition labeling, which enable consumers to make informed decisions, should be further developed as well. Follow up the strategy policy, every 10 years national nutrition surveys should be repeated.

Biography

Email: meral.aksoy@bahcesehir.edu.tr