Infant survivors of the Biafra famine in Nigeria during the late 1960s are more likely to be obese and susceptible to certain health problems than other Nigerians, according to a new study published omline by PLoS One. Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital said their findings demonstrate that malnutrition in the womb increases the chances of adults enduring weight problems, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and hypertension.

 

Lasting from late 1968 to January 1970, the famine came about after the Igbo (or Ibo) people tried to secede from the rest of Nigeria. The Nigerian government, backed by Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States, surrounded Biafra and cut off all food. One million civilians are believed to have died from starvation.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Nigeria: Those Born During Biafra Famine Are Susceptible to Obesity, Study Finds (by Donald McNeil Jr., New York Times)

Hypertension, Diabetes and Overweight: Looming Legacies of the Biafran Famine (by Martin Hult, Per Tornhammar, Peter Ueda, Charles Chima, Anna-Karin Edstedt Bonamy, Benjamin Ozumba and Mikael Norman, PLoS One)