Anyone familiar with Morgan Spurlock?s irreverent documentary Supersize Me will undoubtedly be fully aware of the dangers linked to an excessive consumption of fast food. It did to fast-food what Michael Moore?s Bowling for Columbine did to America?s gun culture. In order to show the health problems caused by junk food, the maverick filmmaker set out to eat solely at McDonalds? for a whole month.

Obesity is the second cause of preventable deaths in the US (smoking being the first). More than 400,000 people die yearly of obesity-related illnesses.

The situation is getting so out of hand that health officials have granted obesity the lofty status of epidemic. And, fast food companies are increasingly coming under fire for their role in this massive public health problem. This was one of the main drivers behind Morgan Spurlock?s life-threatening undertaking. ?In 2002, a few Americans got fed up with being overweight and did what we do best: they sued the bastards, taking aim at the fast food companies and blaming them for their obesity and illnesses.?

In a move reminiscent of the (highly successful) legal proceedings entered against the tobacco industry a few years earlier, two teenage girls from

New York filed a lawsuit against McDonalds in order to obtain financial reparations for their obesity.

As Morgan Spurlock commented, ?the unthinkable had suddenly become reality. People were suing the Golden arches for selling them food that most of us know isn?t good for you to begin with. If fast food culture seems particularly entrenched in the US, it is a worldwide phenomenon. This hunger for fast food isn?t just in America. It?s happening on a global basis?. Naturally, McDonalds? lawyers refuted allegations that their client?s products were responsible for the plaintiff?s health problems and demanded that they ?show that a McDiet is a substantial factor? in their obesity.

The judges thus required the girls? legal team to prove that a direct link existed between McDonalds? burgers and their condition. ?If plaintiffs can allege that McDonald?s products? intended use is to be eaten for every meal of every day and that McDonalds is or should be aware that eating McDonald?s products for every meal of every day is unreasonably dangerous, they may be able to state a claim.?

That?s exactly what Morgan Spurlock did. For one long and nauseous month, he ate nothing but McDonalds for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The effect this high-fat diet had on his health. Even the panel of doctors that had been following his cholesterol-fueled journey from the beginning was shocked by the swiftness and graveness of the deterioration of his health.

In Mauritius, the situation is somewhat less dramatic. According to a survey on non-communicable diseases conducted by the ministry of Health and Quality of Life in 2004, ?the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 2004 was 35.7 % with the condition being more prevalent among women than among males?. There?s also a definite upward trend in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases, which can partly be attributed to changing eating habits. Take diabetes, for example. In 1987, 14.3% of the population aged 30 and above suffered from the disease.

In 2004, the figure had reached 19.3%. Obesity rates have also increased. Twenty years ago, obese men and women accounted for 3.1% and 9.2% of the population, respectively. In 2004 however, the percentage of obese men and women increased to 5.6% and 13.7%. Add overweight Mauritians into the mix and the percentage skyrockets. ?Taken together, 35.7% of the Mauritian population aged 20-74 years are either obese or overweight.?

Yet even this cloud has a silver lining though. Between 1987 and 2004, the percentage of Mauritian men and women aged between 35 and 54 who engaged in physical activities increased from 11.8% to 24.5% and 1.4% to 9.5%, respectively.

The authors of the survey are quick to add a caveat to this encouraging statistic. ?There has been an increasing trend in the prevalence of adequate leisure physical activity during the 17-year period both among males and females. However, among males, only one in every 4 aged 35-54 years is engaged in such activity, and in females, the ratio is 1 in 10. It emerges that physical activity level is still low, especially among females.?

<I>There?s also a definite upward trend in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases, which can partly be attributed to changing eating habits.</I>

The two teenage girls? lawsuit was eventually dismissed by a judge who concluded that the ?plaintiffs had failed to allege that consumption of McDonalds food caused their injuries?. Morgan Spurlock?s experiment showed otherwise. In thirty days, he put on more than 11 kg and doubled the likelihood of his succumbing to heart failure. His body fat increased from 11% to 18% and his ?liver turned to fat?. Over and above the physiological changes he underwent, he also reported feeling exhausted and depressed.

Admittedly, eating fast food everyday is a little extreme. But that does not prevent Supersize Me from being portentous. Pre-valence of non-communicable diseases are high enough if Mauritian society continues on its slide away from homemade cooking and towards fast food.