HAVANA, July 7 (RHC) -- More than 42 percent of Cubans carry a few extra pounds, with obesity becoming a serious health problem in the nation, a health expert told local radio on Friday.
About 47 percent of the overweight people are women and the most worrying fact is that 13 percent of the obese are children, said Lilian Valdivia, an executive from the Havana-based National Center for Minimal Access Surgery, citing a national survey carried out by the country's Health Ministry this year.
"This is serious, because if not taken care of in time, these children will become obese teenagers and later adults with more risks to suffer from hypertension, diabetes and heart and cerebrovascular diseases," said the doctor.
Valdivia said obesity is preventable at childhood, noting that a person becomes overweight simply because of bad nutrition habits. She called on families to realize of the harmful effects of inadequate dietary habits.
