According to a recent research, the “monumental societal failure” to address the issue is causing obesity and overweight rates to skyrocket, affecting over half of adults and over a third of adolescents and young people by 2050, reports RTE.
According to study published in The Lancet, it amounts to 746 million children and adolescents and over 3.8 billion adults.
A higher risk of major health issues including diabetes, several types of cancer, and heart disease is linked to obesity.
“The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental social failure,” said lead author Professor Emmanuela Gakidou from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in the US, reports RTE.
In order to develop their estimations and anticipate what would occur in the future in the absence of action, the team, which is a member of the Global Burden of Disease Study BMI Collaborators, analysed data from 204 nations and territories.
According to them, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has already more than quadrupled over the last three decades, affecting 493 million youths between the ages of 5 and 24 and more than 2.1 billion adults as of 2021, reports RTE.
Despite the complexity of the causes of obesity, experts advised policymakers to utilise the figures to concentrate on ways to support the most vulnerable groups, especially with regard to expanding access to nutritious food.
The Gates Foundation-funded study has several drawbacks, such as incomplete data and the use of body mass index as a marker. The possible effects of obesity medications, which have experienced enormous demand in wealthier nations where they are accessible, were also not considered, the researchers noted, reports RTE.
Although the situation varies throughout the world, the researchers stated that two especially concerning trends were the rapid increase in childhood obesity and the growth in low- and middle-income nations whose health systems are unable to handle the resulting illness load.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is expected to rise by 250%. Population growth is a contributing factor in the increase to 522 million adults and 200 million children and young people, reports RTE.
The problem was also brought up in the World Obesity Atlas, a different research released yesterday by the World Obesity Federation.
“The most affected regions are developing countries,” said Simon Barquera, president of the Federation, reports RTE.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
