TEHRAN – Overeating has turned to a serious challenge for Iranians causing 60 percent of the country’s population aging above 18 to suffer from obesity, said the deputy health minister Alireza Raeisi, Fars reported on Friday.

As far as gender is concerned, women outnumber men in this regard, said the official, adding, “This is directly related to lack of exercise and physical activity.”

Underweight and the overweight are both considered as malnutrition, he highlighted.

Food insecurity 

Elsewhere in his remarks, Raeisi added that seven provinces, namely Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Ilam, Kerman, Bushehr, Ardebil and South Khorasan, are facing food insecurity in terms of nutritional value of the foods, social and economic access to nutritious food, healthy food production and other food-related environmental factors. 

“3.5 percent of children under age 5 living in these provinces are suffering from malnutrition,” he regretted.

MAH/MQ/MG