While an economic crisis results in untold misery for countries and their people, a new study of health in Cuba has suggested there could be a silver lining during lean times.
Researchers appear to have implied that people can lose weight during a recession due to a reduction in eating and increasing physical activity.
Their dramatic findings, published online in the British Medical Journal, were based on a study in Cuba, where the population suffered food and fuel shortages following the economic crisis of the early 1990s triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union.
This resulted in an average of 4 to 5kg (8 to 11 lbs) being shed by the people and subsequent rapid declines in deaths from diabetes and coronary heart disease.
The scientists from the University of Alcalá, in Madrid, also discovered that when Cubans put the weight back on, cases of diabetes surged again.
The researchers concluded that the Cuban crisis could have lessons Britain.
They suggested that an average weight loss of just eleven pounds across the UK could cut deaths from heart disease by a third while the mortality rate of type 2 diabetes, the form of the condition related to obesity, could also be halved.
Whole population trends in food consumption and transport policies linked to physical activity could reduce the burden of two major illnesses, said the researchers.
"During the deepest period of the economic crisis in Cuba, from 1991 to 1995, food was scarce and access to gas was greatly reduced, virtually eliminating motorised transport and causing the industrial and agricultural sectors to shift to manual intensive labour,” said Prof Manuel Franco, who led the international team of researchers from Spain, Cuba and the United States.
"We found a population-wide loss of 4-5 kg in weight in a relatively healthy population was accompanied by diabetes mortality falling by half and mortality from coronary heart disease falling by a third.
"So far, no country or regional population has successfully reduced the distribution of body mass index or reduced the prevalence of obesity through public health campaigns or targeted treatment programmes."
尽管经济危机会给许多国家及其人民造成难以名状的苦难，但是古巴的一项新健康研究指出，经济困难时期的黑暗也有一线光明。
研究人员暗示说，由于摄入食物的减少和体力活动的增多，人们在经济萧条时期体重会下降。
这一发表在《英国医学杂志》网刊上的引人注目的发现基于古巴的一项研究。20世纪90年代早期古巴在苏联解体后陷入经济危机，古巴民众因此遭受食品和燃料的短缺。
这导致古巴人的平均体重下降了4到5千克（8到11磅），古巴因糖尿病和冠心病而导致的死亡人数随后也迅速下降。
马德里的阿尔卡拉大学的科学家还发现，古巴人体重回升后，糖尿病的发病率又再度猛增。
研究人员得出结论说，英国可以从古巴危机中吸取教训。
他们指出，英国人口平均体重只需减少11磅，死于心脏病的人数就能减少三分之一，与肥胖有关的Ⅱ型糖尿病造成的死亡率也可以减半。
研究人员称，全体民众食物摄入量的减少以及和体力活动有关的交通政策可以降低这两大疾病的负担。
这一国际研究团队的成员来自西班牙、古巴和美国，团队的领头人曼纽尔•弗朗科教授说：“在古巴经济危机最严重的时期，即1991年至1995年这段时间，食品和燃气的供给量大幅减少，实质上降低了机动车的使用量，并导致工业和农业部门改用高强度的体力劳动。”
“我们发现，如果一个相对健康的人口体重整体减少4到5千克，那么糖尿病导致的死亡率会随之减半，冠心病死亡率也会降低三分之一。
“到目前为止，还没有哪个国家或地区能通过公共健康运动或有针对性的治疗项目成功地降低人口的身体质量指数或肥胖发生率。”