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Impact of Transnational Migration: Underweight and Obesity in Contemporary Europe

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Handbook of Famine, Starvation, and Nutrient Deprivation

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Abstract

Periods of famine and starvation have been major push factors of migration since prehistory. From Paleolithic times onward, a lack of available food forced Homo sapiens and their ancestors to move to new habitats. This behavior continued until now. At the beginning of twenty-first century, however, transcontinental migration is only seldom the result of long periods of starvation. Nevertheless migration is often associated with profound changes in dietary habits. In the present review, the weight status of Indian and Turkish immigrant women in Austria is focused on. As typical of immigrants in Europe, immigrant women in Austria suffer seldom from undernourishment. In contrast the main problem of transnational and transcontinental immigrants in European countries is the high prevalence of obesity and associated disorders. In Austria, female immigrants from India but also from Turkey show extraordinary high rates of obesity. This is especially true of women and children. As the main reason, the rapid transition to Western lifestyle is discussed.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

FAO:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Perz:

Percentile

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090, Vienna, Austria

    Sylvia Kirchengast

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  1. Sylvia Kirchengast
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Correspondence to Sylvia Kirchengast .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Diabetes & Nutritional Sci Div Sch, King's College London, London, United Kingdom

    Victor Preedy

  2. Clinical Biochemistry, University of Westminster, Westminster, United Kingdom

    Vinood B. Patel

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Kirchengast, S. (2017). Impact of Transnational Migration: Underweight and Obesity in Contemporary Europe. In: Preedy, V., Patel, V. (eds) Handbook of Famine, Starvation, and Nutrient Deprivation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40007-5_65-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40007-5_65-1

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