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The country's obesity rate rose because of the lack of physical activity due to the COVID-19 panedemic, a nutrition expert said Tuesday, citing results of a 2021 survey.

In an interview with dzBB, Food and Nutrition Research Institute Director Imelda Agdeppa said based on the results of their 2021 Expanded National Nutrition Survey, the number of obese Filipinos increased due to their sedentary lifestyle.

“We saw in our survey that most people here lack physical activity because if we look at the results, the dietary or food intake is low,” Agdeppa said.

Agdeppa added that the food intake of Filipinos which consisted of rice and sugar products also contributed to the rise in obesity.

“Most dietary intake of Filipinos is rice and cereal products. They have limited consumption of fruits and vegetables. So we are saying that the energy is compromised because people are mostly eating rice and sugar products,” she said over dzBB.

Agdeppa said people should eat in moderation and include vegetables in their diet.

According to the DOST-FNRI’s 2021 Expanded National Nutrition Survey, the obesity rate of children ages 0 to 5 was at 3.9 percent while it was 14 percent in children ages 5 to 10.

For adolescents and adults, or people ages 20 and above, obesity was at 38.6 percent while the elderly it was at 6.2 percent.

Department of Health Officer-in-Charge and Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they are encouraging people to adopt better food choice.

"We need to have health food choices. Parents must closely monitor the food choices of their children, especially on calories," she said.

Vergeire said the DOH is urging the public to move around, especially with community restrictions slowly being eased.

"We need the physical activity. Once our metabolism speeds up, we can burn more of what we eat," she said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS