In 2016 Eurostat reported that Romania is the least obese country in Europe, although at that time male obesity had grown substantially from 13.8 to 23.4 %. New studies In 2017 noted that Romanians were getting fatter every year. Currently, global statistics on obesity show that Romania now ranks No.76 with an obesity rate of 22.50%; slightly higher than Germany’s 22.30%, which now ranks No. 79 despite being the country that was ranked a decade ago as the fattest country in Europe.
While Romanians make general claims that they are into sports activities and are eating healthily, recent statistics show that Romanian people are becoming more and more overweight from year to year. According to the results of a study commissioned by Ponderas Academic Hospital, more than half of the adult population in Romania is overweight or obese. Around 40% have been struggling to reduce their extra weight in the past five years while 25% have been struggling with obesity problems for the last 10 years or so.
Factors that Caused Romanians to Become Overweight or Obese
The Ponderas survey also showed that the major cause of excessive weight among Romanians is their poor nourishment behaviors. Around 400,000 Romanians have shared that they have more than 6 meals per day, while 1 million responded that they only eat once. Moreover, it also revealed that over a quarter of the total number of respondents surveyed do not eat breakfast as a habit. Some 22% of those who responded believe that dinner and not breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Nourishment activities to 90% involves eating their dinner after 6:00 p.m.
Another critical factor that has caused the increase of obesity rates in Romania is that most Romanians consume plenty of meat, sweets and bread on a daily basis, Statistics show that 4 out of 10 Romanians eat bread everyday, while 40% consume pastries and sweets everyday About 12% regularly eat in fast food chains as weekly treats.
Some Romanians struggling with weight problems do not even think they have one, as only 8% of the respondents confessed that they do gave weight problems. The BMI aspect of the Ponderas study revealed that over 20% of Romanians are obese, which means they have reached BMIs of more than 30.
Romanian Consumers Push For Self Care Products
During the year 2015, local self-care companies in Romania were targeted by a proposed law that aimed to ban mass media advertising of over-the-counter self care products that consumers preferred because they were affordable. However local pharmacy chains, media agency associations and industry players banded together to counter the proposed bill, since would deprive Romanians of information about the affordable self care products they can use.
Many were relieved that bill was dismissed a year later as a result of the concerted and continuous efforts to push for persuasive logic. As proactive action in preventing similar laws that would deprive the Romanian people with affordable self-care products, members of the self-care industry organized themselves as The Romanian Association of the Self-Care Industry (RASCI), Their main mission is to follow the best practices and examples set by other countries in the EU.
The constant increase of self-care products in Romania’s market is also indicative of the increased purchasing power of the population. The self-care industry’s increased attention on prevention, and the development of new weight loss products like Reduslim România found favor among overweight consumers primarily because of their improved efficiency in helping them burn fat instead of storing them in fat cells.
Still, RASCI’s members have conveyed annoyance over the delays in approving regulations for food supplements. According to RASCI, it jeopardizes consumers’ safety since obesity is becoming increasingly common in Romania.