Research / More than a billion people on the planet are obese

Obesity now affects more than a billion people worldwide, including children and teenagers, according to figures released just days before World Obesity Day on March 4, which show an increase in the problem in low- and middle-income countries.

“From 1990 to 2022 the rate of obesity quadrupled among children and adolescents, while it doubled among adults,” says this huge research published by the British medical journal The Lancet and carried out in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

This “epidemic is progressing faster than expected,” Professor Francesco Branca, director of the WHO’s Nutrition for Health and Development division, pointed out during a press conference.

“Originally, scientists estimated that the one billion obese people mark would be exceeded around 2030,” noted Professor Mazid Ezzati of Imperial College London, one of the main authors of the report.

The report, based on data from about 220 million people in more than 190 countries, estimates that nearly 880 million adults were obese in 2022 (504 million women and 374 million men). In 1990, there were 195 million obese adults.

Since 1990 the obesity rate has nearly tripled among men (from 4.8% in 1990 to 14% in 2022) and more than doubled among women (from 8.8% to 18.5%) , with differences per country.

Even more alarming is the fact that in 2022 the condition affected almost 160 million children and adolescents (94 million boys and 65 million girls). Thirty years earlier their number was 31 million.

“World War”

Obesity, a chronic, complex disease, causes an increase in mortality due to other pathologies, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and some cancers. The covid-19 pandemic, for which obesity is an additional aggravating factor, was a prime example of this.

Another change: some low- and middle-income countries—mainly in Polynesia and Micronesia, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North Africa—now have obesity rates higher than those in many industrialized countries, especially in Europe.

“In the past we tended to think of obesity as a problem of rich countries, now it is a global problem,” noted Francesco Branca.

He estimates that this phenomenon is due to “the rapid change, but not for the better, of food systems in low- and middle-income countries.”

By contrast, obesity shows “signs of decline in some southern European countries, especially among women, with Spain and France being the most notable examples,” according to Mazid Ezati.

Now “in most countries an increasing number of people are obese than underweight”.

Underweight is a serious problem in some parts of the world, such as southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It is associated with increased mortality among women and very young children, but also with increased chances of death from infectious diseases.

“Double Weight”

There is not enough food or it is of poor quality: many low- and middle-income countries face the ‘double burden’ of undernutrition and obesity. A part of their population still does not consume a sufficient number of calories, while another no longer has this problem, but their diet is of poor quality.

“This new report highlights the importance of preventing and treating obesity from early in life and into adulthood through nutrition, physical activity and adequate care based on needs,” the director general of POU Tedros Andanom Gebregesus.

For the WHO, beneficial actions are not implemented enough: taxing sugary drinks, subsidizing foods that are good for health, limiting advertising of harmful foods for children, encouraging physical activity.

Source: newsbeast.gr