By Imogen Howse via SWNS
The rate of obesity among children has quadrupled in the last three decades, with more than a billion people across the world obese, claims a new shock report.
Rates among those under 18 have increased four times since 1990, while rates among women have more than doubled and rates among men have nearly tripled.
In the same period, the number of people struggling with being underweight has fallen – making obesity the most common form of malnutrition in the majority of countries.
The global analysis, published in The Lancet, indicated that obesity was most prevalent for men in American Samoa and Nauru, for women in American Samoa and Tonga, and for children in Niue and Cook Islands.
The United States (US) had the 10th highest rate of obesity worldwide for men and the 36th highest rate for women, while men in the United Kingdon (UK) ranked 55th and women ranked 87th.
Meanwhile, the countries where most men were underweight were Eritrea and Ethiopia, and the countries where most women were underweight were Eritrea and Timor-Leste in Indonesia.
The highest rates of underweight children were recorded in India and Sri Lanka for girls, and India and Niger for boys.
The research team said the study highlights the urgency of tackling obesity.
Senior author Professor Majid Ezzati, from Imperial College London in the UK, said: “Obesity and being underweight are both forms of malnutrition and are detrimental to people’s health in many ways.
“It is very concerning that the epidemic of obesity that was evident among adults in much of the world in 1990 is now mirrored in school-aged children and adolescents.
“At the same time, hundreds of millions are still affected by undernutrition, particularly in some of the poorest parts of the world.
“To successfully tackle both forms of malnutrition it is vital we significantly improve the availability and affordability of healthy, nutritious foods.”
In the study, researchers analyzed weight and height measurements of over 220 million people aged five years or older across 190 countries.
They used body mass index (BMI) to categorize people as obese or underweight, with adults classed as obese if they had a BMI greater than or equal to 30kg/m2 and classed as underweight if their BMI was below 18.5kg/m2.
Among children and adolescents, the BMI figures used depended heavily on a participant’s age and sex because of how drastically a person’s height and weight can change during puberty.
Results showed that a total of 879 million adults and 159 million children were living with obesity in 2022.
This marked a significant increase since 1990, when 195 million adults and 31 million children were living with obesity.
When these numbers were adjusted for global population growth, the team established that obesity rates among men had nearly tripled (4.8 to 14 percent), rates among women had more than doubled (8.8 to 18.5 percent), and rates among children had 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 were underweight had halved (14.5 to seven percent for women and 13.7 to six percent for men), and the rate of underweight girls and boys had fallen from 10.3 percent and 16.7 percent in 1990 to 8.2 percent and 10.8 percent in 2022.
Overall, there were 127 million fewer underweight people worldwide in 2022 than in 1990.
These trends combined have led to a transition which means that in most countries, a larger number of people are affected by obesity than by being underweight.
However, the combined burden of both forms of malnutrition has increased in most countries – though this has been driven by 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 that issues with malnutrition can be attributed to global events such as climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Guha Pradeepa, study co-author from the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, said: “The impact of issues such as climate change, disruptions caused by Covid-19, and the war in Ukraine risk worsening both rates of obesity and underweight.
“This is because they cause an increase in poverty and an increase in the cost of nutrient-rich foods, which leads to insufficient food in some countries and household shifts to less healthy foods in others.
“To create a healthier world, we need comprehensive policies to address these challenges.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that governments and the private sector must work together to tackle this global health crisis.
He commented: “This new study highlights the importance of preventing and managing obesity from early life to adulthood, through diet, physical activity, and adequate care, as needed.
“Getting back on track to meet the global targets for curbing obesity will take the work of governments and communities, supported by evidence-based policies from WHO and national public health agencies.
“Importantly, it requires the cooperation of the private sector, which must be accountable for the health impacts of their products.”
