Perantau Students To Urban Vulnerables To Obesity, Why?

Illustration of obesity. (Freepic)

JAKARTA - Obesity is now one of the health problems experiencing an increase in cases in the world, including in Indonesia. In Indonesia, almost one in four adults or 23.4 percent are affected by obesity, according to the Indonesian Health Survey.

One group that is prone to obesity is students, to be precise, students from plural areas who move to urban areas, or students who migrate to urban areas.

Doctor Farid Kurniawan, Sp.PD, PhD - HISOBI (Indonesian Obesity Study Association), said that research shows that students from plural who move to urban areas can experience a weight gain of up to two times.

"We do our own research, yes, for students who come from plural who move to urban areas," said Doctor Farid, when met in Kuningan, Jakarta, written on Friday, September 26, 2025.

"We compare it with those living in urban areas for a year, the weight of these plural students has doubled compared to those who have been urbanized," he added.

This happens because of the adoption of an unhealthy lifestyle, such as minimal movement to consumption of foods that are not balanced. This lifestyle will also worsen the condition of the body if they previously had a history of stunting.

"This is related to the stunting situation at the beginning of his life, continuing to adopt an unhealthy lifestyle when he is growing up, his metabolic capacity is unable, so his body is prone to obesity and is prone to other metabolic diseases," he explained.

Then, Doctor Farid said that obesity is caused by various factors, such as unhealthy, genetic, and hormonal lifestyles. However, according to him, environmental factors are the biggest causes of obesity, especially in students.

"Current environmental factors are the biggest factors that affect obesity," said Doctor Farid.