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Has Obesity Rate Been Curbed?
 

Despite the effort exerted by governments around the world to fight against obesity epidemic, it seems that not one country has succeeded in lowering the obesity rates in 33 years. This was revealed by a team of researchers from the University of Washington who analyzed 1,769 studies, surveys, and reports on obesity around the world from 1980 to 2013. Their findings, which were published online May 29, 2014 in ‘The Lancet’, indicated that of 188 countries surveyed, nearly 30 percent of the global population, or 2.1 billion people, are either overweight or obese.

Being paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the report showed that globally, the proportion of adults with a BMI of 25 or greater increased between 1980 and 2013 from 28.8 percent to 36.9 percent in men, and from 29.8 percent to 38 percent in women.

A globally accepted ratio of height to weight, body mass index (BMI), is used to calculate obesity. A person is said to be overweight when the BMI shows 25 and above, and is obese when the BMI is 30 and above. Heavier person has a greater chance of developing various diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and even some kind of cancer.

Of the areas surveyed, Middle East and North Africa have the highest rates of heavy men (60 percent) and women (65 percent). United States tops the list of most obese countries. It accounts for just 5 percent of the world’s total population, yet 13 percent of the global overweight and obese population is Americans. China and India combined have about 15 percent.

By breaking down the obesity rates by age, the researchers found 80 percent of men aged between 50 and 54 are overweight or obese and 73 percent of women aged between 60 and 64 are.

Meanwhile, kids are heavier than ever. Percentage of overweight or obese children and teenagers has increased by nearly 50 percent since 1980 and now more than 22 percent of girls and nearly 24 percent of boys in developed countries are overweight or obese.

Strong link between income and obesity was spotted - as people get richer; their waistlines also tend to grow bigger. It was also noted that there is accompanying rise in diabetes and rates of cancer linked to weight, like pancreatic cancer, are also increasing.

As indicated in the report, 160 million Americans are either obese or overweight. The United States has 78 million obese adults, the highest number of any country in the world, even China, with 4 times the population. Nearly 75 percent of American men and more than 60 percent of women are obese or overweight.

Nearly 30 percent of American children and teens are either obese or overweight, up from 19 percent in 1980. This is nearly twice as many as in Europe - only 4 percent of kids in the Netherlands or Sweden are overweight.

Main reason for such phenomenon is that people are increasingly getting out of energy balance. Excessive intake, usually high in fat and sugar, and a significant decline in physical activity are the main causes.

But what people are overeating varies from one region of the world to another. For instance, people in South Africa indulge in starchy food while those in Latin America prefer snacks and sugary drinks.

In China, roads with heavy traffic have replaced bike lanes indicating that people are not using bikes as frequent as before. This also means that physical activity is reduced. Experts also warned that increasing availability of fast food is influencing the worldwide obesity rates. The team of United States and Irish reported that for every extra fast-food transaction in a country, the average BMI went up by 0.03.

The researchers concluded that obesity would rise steadily with the increase in incomes in low- and middle-income countries, unless urgent steps are taken to tackle this public health crisis.

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