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The 4^th Iranian Conference of Obesity Prevention & Treatment was held with the participation of professors Sayyari and Peyvandi, respectively the Deputy-Minister of Health in Health Affairs, and the SBMU Chancellor, and also the attendance of Hojjat-Ol-Islam Abdoljabbari, the Director of the SBMU Supreme Leader’s Office, and the specialists and experts.

At this three-day conference, in which Professor Jihan Tavila, the WHO Representative in Iran and the Director of the NCD (Non Communicable Diseases) EMR (Eastern Mediterranean Region) Office, as well as Professor Azizi, the Director of the SBMU RIES (Research Institute for Endocrine Science) Office, Professor Masjedi, the Director of the Iranian Association against Smoke, and numerous researchers and students were present, Professor Delshad, the Conference Academic Secretariat commemorated the late Professor Saleh zahedi Asl, the SBMU RIES, and elaborated on his invaluable academic activities in his lifetime.

He further continued: “Obesity is one of the NCD risk factors and a challenge in the industrialized nations threatening human health with an increasing trend everywhere including Iran. Obesity and its complications claim the life of 2.8 million people and wasting around 10 % of the health care expenditures for their treatment. It is moving on with a growing trend globally and in Iran; therefore, Professor Azizi founded the Iranian Scientific Association of Obesity in 2006 and began developing its mission in preventing and treating obesity.”

As the conference continued, Professor Tavila, the WHO representative in Iran detailed on the importance of prevention and treatment of obesity and elaborated on the statistics related to its prevalence at the global level.         

Later, the first academic Panel Discussion of the conference began with the directorship of Professor Azizi. The Panel Topic was “Changing the Lifestyle in Preventing Obesity”.

In the Panel, which was formed by the presence of Professors sayyari, Masjedi, Haji Faraji, Baradaran, Dammari, Kordi, and Kelishadi, Professor Azizi noted to the assessment of obesity by calculating the BMI (Body Mass Index) and waist line. He mentioned that a BMI of more than 30 is a sign of obesity; moreover, he said, a waist line of bigger than 90c in females, and males over 30 years of age demands preventive measures, while the one bigger than 95 requires serious efforts in the treatment of obesity.

 Professor Sayyari, while noting to the change of the population pyramid in Iran in the past 10 years, said: “Iran will face an elderly population in the next 30 years, which is a concerning issue, and there have been global national policies being worked on at the Ministry of Health.”

He further added: “Death is the most grave condition in any family and there are about 380,000 deaths annually in Iran whose 91 % of them occur due to heart attacks, and unfortunately, the age of being inflicted by heart attack has reduced in Iran.”

  Professor Sayyari later explained that stroke is the second mortality reason being followed by traffic accidents as the third cause of mortality in Iran; and while noting to the fact that around 10 % of the Iranian population of those between 15-64 years of age are among the smokers, said: “Unfortunately, this population-at-risk is increasing with a mortality of 11000 annually.”

He further mentioned that around 24 million of the Iranian population follow a sedentary lifestyle, and said: “diseases such as diabetes and HBP are hidden inside this kind of lifestyle, and while using 5 meal portions have been noted to be among the healthy lifestyle, less than 88 % of the Iranian population follow it.”

While noting to the 81 deaths in Iran due to HBP, Professor Sayyari said: “malnutrition, HBP, and obesity are among the most important causes of NCDs with an increasing trend in the past 20 years; and we will have to design a comprehensive system to reduce the NCDs in our nation.”