Fiji’s growing obesity crisis is being driven by an increasing dependence on processed foods and more sedentary lifestyles, a senior public health doctor has warned, linking these trends to a rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and worrying increases in childhood obesity.
National Diabetes Centre principal medical officer Dr Momtaz Ahmed said many Fijians have shifted away from natural and traditional diets toward canned and processed foods. “We are eating unhealthy food and we are physically inactive due to being overweight and obese,” he said, pointing to unhealthy eating patterns combined with reduced physical activity as key contributors to the country’s escalating NCD rates.
Dr Ahmed described modern lifestyles as a major factor in the dietary shift. He noted that people are spending more time on screens and have less time to prepare meals, which leads many to opt for convenience foods. “People are spending more time on the screen. They have less time to cook healthy food and they are just going and buying canned food and other processed food,” he said.
The principal medical officer also raised alarm about the nutritional habits of children. “Obesity in children is also increasing in Fiji and globally because children are eating more fast food, more processed food, rather than natural food,” Dr Ahmed said, urging families and caregivers to be watchful of children’s diets and food choices.
As immediate, practical advice, Dr Ahmed encouraged families to return to simpler, locally available options. He recommended eating the “natural diet, your traditional diet, and not the processed food,” and urged households to include fruit and seasonal produce in daily meals wherever possible. His advice reflects a broader public-health emphasis on early dietary intervention to prevent the long-term complications of diabetes, heart disease and other NCDs.
The warning adds to ongoing public-health concerns about lifestyle-related illnesses in Fiji, where health authorities have long sought ways to curb NCDs through education, screening and community programmes. Dr Ahmed’s remarks reinforce the role of household-level choices — what families buy and how children are raised around food and activity — in shaping the nation’s health trajectory.
While government and partner organisations continue to work on structural responses, Dr Ahmed’s message is a reminder that reversing the trend will require both system-level action and daily changes in meals and movement. His comments place renewed emphasis on promoting traditional foods, seasonal fruits and increased physical activity as immediate steps families can take to address the country’s obesity and NCD challenge.
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