A new report has warned that if current trends continue over half of adults and a third of young people will be overweight or obese in the next 25 years.
The research, which was published in the Lancet, revealed there are 2.11 billion adults aged 25 or over and 493 million children and young people aged five to 24 who are overweight or obese. This is an increase from 731 million and 198 million respectively in 1990.
Without policy intervention, the report says more than half of those aged 25 and over worldwide (3.8 billion) and around a third of children and young people (746 million) will be affected by 2050.
Not only do these figures point to global failures in the response to the growing obesity crisis, but they pose an ‘unparalleled threat’ of early death, disease and huge strain on healthcare systems, which are already overstretched.
Professor Emmanuela Gakidou, from the University of Washington and lead author of the study said: ‘The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental societal failure.’
Across the globe, the number of people affected fluctuate with more than half of the adults classed as overweight or obese living in eight countries: China (402 million), India (180 million), the US (172 million), Brazil (88 million), Russia (71 million), Mexico (58 million), Indonesia (52 million) and Egypt (41 million).
Likewise, researchers estimate that around one in three children and young people living with obesity will be in two regions – North Africa and the Middle East and Latin America and the Carribbean.
Against this backdrop, experts warned children everywhere are gaining weight faster than previous generations, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer occurring at a younger age.
The concern for the growing risk of obesity additionally spans outside of the Lancet report. The World Obesity Federation also published research on Monday 3rd March which warned the impact obesity can have on poorer countries.
‘By far the greatest number of premature deaths attributable to high BMI are in lower- and upper-middle-income-countries – indicating poor levels of treatment available,’ the authors wrote.
Echoing a similar tone, Johanna Ralston, chief executive of the World Obesity Federation, said: ‘Obesity has significant health, economic and societal impacts that are likely to be more challenging for lower-resourced countries to address.’
Photo by i yunmai via UnSplash
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