Thoughts about eating patterns in Cambodia

In Cambodia recently, burgers, French fries with high fat and other kinds of fast foods have become popular among youth and middle class people in cities. Though they are a bit expensive in the Cambodia context, eating burgers and French fries MAY BE a sign of modernity for youth and affordability for middle class people in the era of change in socio-economic development.

However, it should be noted that there is a reversed phenomenon in developed countries (US, Europe). Fast food associated with high fat is convenient and cheap for poor and people with low income. Therefore, these people are more likely to be obese compared with higher income individuals due to high fat associated food diet.

In the US, researchers found that there was a link between obesity and those with lower incomes and less education. But in Cambodia, I guess there will be a link between overweight, obesity and high income! I want to test this hypothesis hehe. Here, we still do not mention about the current practice of use of hazardous chemical substances in food products that lead to the unexpected harm to people’s health.

It has been shown that the spread of overweight and obesity is hitting not only the high income countries but also the middle and low income countries alike. This phenomenon creates a so called "a double burden of disease”. It means that in developing country such as Cambodia, in cities we find an increase trends of diseases associated with overweight and obesity such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, while in rural areas, we find high rate of malnutrition and infectious diseases.

Globalization: A threat or an opportunity for developing countries?

Globalization is the increased integration of economies and societies in the world. Recently, this word has been one of the hot topics for debates. Some view it positively- a key point of future world economic development- but others especially developing countries view it negatively because they believe it increases inequality between nations and threaten employment and living standard. The gap between the rich and the poor countries has become even wider! Four aspects of globalization are free trade, capital movements, people movements (Migration and Brain Drain), and spread of knowledge and technology. Click IMF site for furthermore information.