Obesity rates among children have quadrupled in the past 30 years, with more than one billion people worldwide being obese, a shocking new report has revealed.
The proportion of people under 18 has quadrupled since 1990, with the proportion of women more than doubling and the proportion of men almost tripling.
Over the same period, the number of people suffering from underweight has declined, with obesity becoming the most common form of malnutrition in the majority of countries.
A global analysis published in The Lancet showed that obesity was most common among men in American Samoa and Nauru, women in American Samoa and Tonga, and children in Niue and the Cook Islands.
The US ranks 10th in the world in obesity rates for men and 36th for women, while the UK ranks 55th for men and 87th for women.
Meanwhile, the countries where most men were underweight were Eritrea and Ethiopia, and the countries where the most women were underweight were Eritrea and East Timor, Indonesia.
The highest rates of underweight children were in India and Sri Lanka for girls and in India and Niger for boys.
The research team said the study highlights the urgency of tackling obesity.
Lead author Professor Majid Ezzati, from Imperial College London in the UK, said: 'Obesity and underweight are both forms of malnutrition and can negatively impact people's health in a number of ways.
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“It is very worrying that the obesity epidemic that was evident among adults in many parts of the world in 1990 is now being mirrored in school-age children and adolescents.
“At the same time, hundreds of millions of people remain affected by undernourishment, especially in the world's poorest regions.
“To successfully address both forms of malnutrition, it is essential to significantly improve the availability and affordability of healthy, nutritious foods.”
For the study, researchers analyzed weight and height measurements from more than 220 million people aged 5 and older in 190 countries.
They use BMI to classify people as obese or underweight, and adults are classified as obese if their BMI is 30 kg/m or more and underweight if their BMI is less than 18.5 kg/m2. Ta.
For children and adolescents, height and weight can change significantly during adolescence, so the BMI numbers used were highly dependent on the age and gender of the participants.
The results showed that a total of 879 million adults and 159 million children will be living with obesity in 2022.
This is a significant increase since 1990, when 195 million adults and 31 million children were living with obesity.
Adjusting these numbers for global population growth, the researchers found that obesity rates among men are almost tripled (4.8 to 14 percent), women are more than twice as likely (8.8 to 18.5 percent), and children are more likely to be obese. The obesity rate has more than quadrupled. (1.7 to 6.9 percent for girls and 2.1 to 9.3 percent for boys).
Meanwhile, the proportion of adults who are underweight has halved (to 14.5-7% for women and 13.7-6% for men), and the proportion of girls and boys who are underweight has increased from 10.3% and 16.7% in 1990 to 8.2% and 10.8%. It declined to . In 2022, it will be a percentage.
Overall, there were 127 million fewer underweight people in the world in 2022 than in 1990.
The combination of these trends has led to changes in most countries where more people are affected by obesity than by being underweight.
However, the combined burden of both forms of malnutrition is increasing in most countries, albeit due to rising obesity rates.
This double burden was found to be highest in Polynesia, Micronesia, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North Africa.
The research team said the problem of malnutrition can be attributed to global events such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Dr Guha Pradeepa, co-author of the study from the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, said: “Both obesity and underweight rates are at risk of worsening due to the impact of issues such as climate change, the disruption caused by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. There is,” he said.
“This means they are causing increased poverty and rising prices for nutritious foods, resulting in food shortages in some countries and households shifting to less healthy foods in others. It's about connecting.
“Building a healthier world requires comprehensive policies that address these challenges.”
Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said governments and the private sector need to work together to address this global health crisis.
He commented as follows: “This new study highlights the importance of preventing and managing obesity from childhood to adulthood through diet, physical activity and appropriate care when needed.
“Getting back on track to achieving global obesity goals will require government and community efforts supported by evidence-based policies from the WHO and national public health agencies.
“Importantly, we need the cooperation of the private sector, and the private sector must be held accountable for the health impacts of its products.”
