London: A new study warns that obesity and overweight rates increase rapidly in the world, with more than half of all adults and almost a third of children and young people who should be affected by 2050, stressing what researchers describe as a “monumental societal failure” to approach the growing crisis.
Which represents more than 3.8 billion adults and 746 million children and adolescents, research published in Lancet said.
Obesity is associated with an increased risk of serious health problems such as diabetes, certain cancers and heart disease.
“The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a deep tragedy and monumental social insufficiency,” said Professor Emmanuela Gakidou of the Institute for metrics and the health assessment at Washington University in the United States.
The team, which is part of the global charge in the study of the disease, the employees of the BMI, used data from 204 countries and territories to propose their estimates and project what could happen in the future without action.
Overweight and obesity rates have already doubled in the past three decades, with more than 2.1 billion adults and 493 million young people aged 5 to 24 assigned from 2021, they said.
Although the reasons for obesity are complex, governments should use estimates to focus on how to help the most risky populations, researchers said, in particular around the improvement of access to healthy food.
The study, funded by the Gates Foundation, had limits, in particular data gaps and the use of the body mass index as a marker. He also did not take into account the potential impact of obesity drugs, which have experienced a huge demand in richer countries where they are available, the researchers said.
The image varies on a global scale, but the researchers have said that an accelerated increase in obesity in young people and the increase in low and intermediate income countries where health systems cannot cope with the office of coming disease were particularly disturbing.
This includes a planned increase of 250% of overweight and obesity rates in sub -Saharan Africa. The increase, to 522 million adults and 200 million children and young people, is partly taken by population growth.
A distinct study published on Monday, the world of atlas obesity of the World Obesity Federation, also raised this question.
“The most affected regions are developing countries,” said Simon Barquera, president of the federation.
The obesity Atlas has suggested that 79% of adults and 88% of children with obesity and overweight will live in low and intermediate income countries by 2035, and only 7% of all countries have adequate health systems in place to cope with it.
“This is really one of the main public health challenges around the world,” added Barquera.
