Nutrition Transition and Biocultural Determinants of Obesity among Cameroonian Migrants in Urban Cameroon and France

Abstract

Native of rural West Cameroon, the Bamiléké population is traditionally predisposed to obesity. Bamiléké who migrated to urban areas additionally experience the nutrition transition. We investigated the biocultural determinants of obesity in Bamiléké who migrated to urban Cameroon (Yaoundé), or urban France (Paris). We conducted qualitative interviews (n = 36; 18 men) and a quantitative survey (n = 627; 266 men) of adults using two-stage sampling strategy, to determine the association of dietary intake, physical activity and body weight norms with obesity of Bamiléké populations in these three socio-ecological areas (rural Cameroon: n = 258; urban Cameroon: n = 319; urban France: n = 50). The Bamiléké valued overweight and traditional energy-dense diets in rural and urban Cameroon. Physical activity levels were lower, consumption of processed energy-dense food was frequent and obesity levels higher in new migrants living in urban Cameroon and France. Female sex, age, duration of residence in urban areas, lower physical activity and valorisation of overweight were independently associated with obesity status. This work argues in favour of local and global health policies that account for the origin and the migration trajectories to prevent obesity in migrants.

Biocultural determinants of overweight and obesity in the context of nutrition transition in Senegal: a holistic anthropological approach

“…A preliminary recent Senegalese study on body image also showed a female valorization of stoutness (Cohen et al, 2018), but further analyses have demonstrated that women particularly valued overweight and obesity in men while most participants overestimated their weighta trend probably linked to the traditional depreciation of thinness (Ndiaye, 2006). Hence, the binary logistic regression analysis showed the social valorization stoutness (overweight and obesity) to be an independent risk factor for overweight/obesity, as observed in previous studies conducted in Cameroon (Cohen et al, 2013(Cohen et al, , 2017, since the majority of overweight/obese subjects did not want to lose weighta phenomenon already identified in urban middle-aged Senegalese women (Holdsworth et al, 2004).…”

“…The Senegalese living in Dakar are exposed to both physical and social obesogenic pressures. Duration of urban residency has been shown to be a risk factor for overweight and obesity due to the adoption of urban obesogenic behaviours influenced by cultural values (Olszowy et al, 2015;Cohen et al, 2017). Indeed, urban Senegalese still value inappropriate overweight, ill-adapted to the urban ecosystem, and have adopted higher-calorie diets and abandoned regular physical activity.…”

“…Senegalese urban areas present both ecological and sociocultural obesogenic components, i.e. a physical and sociocultural environment that facilitates obesity (Macia et al, 2017), as observed in other African countries (Cohen et al, 2017). This dynamic social-ecological context (Saarloos et al, 2009) has its own anthropological specificities involving a complex, unique and potentially obesogenic lifestyle (Ulijaszek & Lofink, 2006).…”

“…In the context of urbanization in Africa, which is characterized by a rural exodus and intensification of internal migration, new migrants are progressively exposed to NCDs (Oyebode et al, 2015). Nevertheless, their traditional preference for stoutness (overweight/obesity) seems to remain in these obesogenic areas, as observed in Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria (Appiah et al, 2016;Akindele et al, 2017;Cohen et al, 2017). Indeed, the propensity towards stoutness is strengthened during the internal migration, particularly as this paradigm is viewed as a sign of successful integration into the modern urban lifestyle associated with abundance.…”

Development and validation of the body shape scale (BOSHAS) for assessing body shape perception in African populations

“…We observed that the Senegalese tended to be more ectomorph, whilst Cameroonians tended to be more mesomorph. These results are in accordance with findings from recent studies conducted in Senegal and Cameroon [61,62], as Cameroonians have a higher BMI than Senegalese, which impacts on the somatotype frequency [63]. The BOSHAS is the first body image scale to rigorously and accurately capture a large variation in African body shape.…”