The migrants who have shifted from rural to urban areas are more likely to suffer from obesity and diabetes in India, a study has found. “Migrants develop levels of obesity and diabetes similar to the urban dwellers they live and work with, but their rural dwelling brothers and sisters tend to stay less obese and have lower rates of diabetes,” says the study published in the PLoS Medicine journal.

The researchers found that “41.9 percent of urban men and 37.8 percent of migrant men were obese. In contrast, only 19 percent of the rural men were obese. Similarly, 13.5 percent and 14.3 percent of the urban and migrant men, respectively, but only 6.2 percent of the rural men had diabetes,” said the report. The figures were similar for the women participants.

The report also analysed that urban and migrant persons are more likely to develop hypertension and high blood pressure.

The study is based on data collected from 6,500 participants which included migrants, their rural siblings and non-migrant. The data collected for the survey were from north, central and south India working in four different factories and analysed by scientists from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, AIIMS, University of Bristol and Centre for Chronic Diseases Control in Delhi.

India is at high risk of more and more people suffering from diabetes which has been increasing every year. The study noted that health promotional activities targeting migrants and their families would help reduce the risk factors for obesity and diabetes and slow the progress of the epidemic.

Read the report