In June, officials from Thailand's Public Health Department urged laypeople to offer healthier alms to monks, who pour from temples in their saffron robes each morning to roam the streets collecting their meals in the Buddhist tradition. Mr Amporn Bejapolpitak, the department's deputy director-general, also suggested that monks add more physical activity — like cleaning their temples — to their sedentary lives of prayer and meditation.

Obesity has reached alarming levels in Thailand, which ranks as the second-heaviest nation in Asia, after Malaysia. One in three Thai men are obese, while more than 40 per cent of women are significantly overweight, according to Thailand's national health examination survey.

Monks are at the forefront of the problem. Nearly half are obese, according to a study conducted by Chulalongkorn University. More than 40 per cent have high cholesterol, nearly 25 per cent have high blood pressure and one in 10 are diabetic, the study found.

https://www.todayonline.com/world/th...king-time-bomb

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