Obesity levels have almost doubled in the past 30 years, with more than 500 million people affected worldwide, the Lancet Medical Journal reported in August.

The United States, a country that has had the highest average Body Mass Index (BMI) in the past 30 years, has recorded a 3 point average increase, from 25 to 28.

The revelations come at a time when high income countries have made considerable inroads in the fight against both high blood pressure and soaring cholesterol levels.

Statistics released showed that a tenth of men across the world were obese, while 14 percent women were affected.

But now, unlike 30 years ago, African countries are increasingly recording incidents of obesity. In South Africa, for example, one in three men and more than a third of the women were said to be overweight in 2004.

At the same time, many people in the Southern African nation died from obesity related diseases.

In 2010 a report released by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) revealed that 61 percent of South Africans were overweight, obese or morbidly obese, with 17 percent of children under the age of nine overweight. While the results from a study conducted by BMC Public Health in 2009 show that of seven Sub-Saharan African countries the average prevalence of obesity amongst women was 31.4 percent, reaching in 38 percent in Kenya and 35 percent in Ghana. Bringing the average down was Malawi, where the prevalence was 23 percent.

The year 2011 saw the opening of several fast food chains across the continent from which the health implications give cause for concern as oftentimes these meals are given as substitutes for healthier eating.

In South Africa in particular, although obesity is not just an epidemic amongst the so-called middle classes and all over Africa, it can be said that for many the consumption of these types of foods is seen as a status symbol.

In the same BMC study it was recorded that there was a much larger increase of women who were obese or overweight living in poorer socio-economic conditions, at 50 percent, compared to those who were richer, 7 percent.

When KFC opened a restaurant in Accra, Ghana last August, some people revelled at the move seen as a sign of economic development. Whilst growth in countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya is undeniable for some, the spreading of fast food restaurants serves more as a warning to avoid the crisis of national obesity that their American counterparts are now dealing with.