Foods high in sugar, salt, and saturated fat make up 40% of diets of adults in South African adults with low income. These foods are widely available in low-income areas and are cheaper than healthier, whole food alternatives. 

According to a recent study led by Dr. Tamryn Frank, an obesity prevention researcher at the University of Western Cape, ultra-processed foods are easy to prepare, tasty, affordable and they have a long shelf life.  

But the cost of convenience is high. It’s estimated that overweight and obesity cost the country R 33,194 million or 15.38% of the country’s health budget in 2020. 

“These products can lead to severe problems such as obesity, overweight, cancer, and heart diseases,” Frank said during a webinar hosted by the advocacy organisation HEALA last week. 

Frank says the impact of highly processed foods are more severe on children. Parents should pay attention to what they give their children, despite the challenges that they may face.

“The longer a person consumes them, the risks of being obese and having heart diseases and cancer increases,” she warns.   

South Africa has seen a drastic increase in noncommunicable disease over the past 20 years, with cases rising from 103,428 in 1997 to 164, 205 in 2018.

This increase is driven by the high number of people who are overweight and obese. In South Africa 31% of men and 68% of women are obese, 13% of children are obese or overweight. 

Malnutrition and hunger

At the same time, 8 million of the 21 million children in the country go hungry everyday, according to a 2023 report by the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town. The report found that the child support grant, which at the time was R500, wasn’t enough to protect poor children from hunger and the effects of malnutrition like stunting where children are too short for their age. 

“The increase of R20 or R50 in child support grants is an insult to South Africans,” says Petronell Kruger, HEALA’S programmes manager. 

Kruger says the government should increase the child support grant so that people can afford nutritious food. In addition, the government should subsidise all healthy food, and support locally produced healthy food products. 

“We need enabling policies that ensure that people can have enough money to purchase food,” she says. “The government should also increase taxation on unhealthy products.” 

Lasting impact of malnutrition 

According to Dr. Edzani Mphaphuli, a public health specialist and head of the Grow Great campaign to end stunting in children, over 1.5 million children are stunted because of not getting enough nutritious food. 

“Stunted children are likely to struggle to learn in school. These children fail to also reach their physical and cognitive potential,” she says. 

Stunting is a serious problem not only for children, guardians and households, but also for society as a whole and it should be taken seriously. – Health-e News