WHO reports steep rise in obesity in poorer countries
- 16:26 23 September 2005
- NewScientist.com news service
- Shaoni Bhattacharya
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A staggering one billion of the world's population of 6.45 billion is overweight, warns the World Health Organization. And rates of overweight and obesity are rising dramatically in poorer countries, not just wealthy nations.
If the current trend continues, by 2015 there will be 1.5 billion overweight people in the world. Being overweight or obese greatly increases a person's risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other chronic diseases.
"The sheer magnitude of the overweight and obesity problem is staggering," says Catherine Le Galès-Camus, WHO assistant director-general of noncommunicable diseases and mental health.
"The rapid increase of overweight and obesity in many low and middle income countries foretells an overwhelming chronic disease burden in these countries in the next 10 to 20 years if action is not taken now," she says.
The hike in obesity in lower income countries is due to many factors including a "global shift" towards eating more high-energy foods, fats, salt and sugar, the WHO concludes. This is coupled with decreased physical activity "due to the sedentary nature of modern work and transportation, and increasing urbanisation", it says.
Preventable diseases
According to the WHO's latest estimates, more than 75% of women over 30 are now overweight in countries as diverse as Barbados, Egypt, Malta, South Africa and the US. Similarly, 75% of men are overweight in countries ranging from Argentina to Greece to the UK. The problem is particularly bad in men from the Western Pacific islands. The islands of Nauru and Tonga have the highest prevalence in the world, with nine out of every ten adults being overweight.
The figures have been released ahead of World Heart Day on 25 September to focus attention on the problem and its health implications.
"The real tragedy is that overweight and obesity, and their related chronic diseases, are largely preventable," says Robert Beaglehole, WHO director of chronic diseases and health promotion. "Approximately 80% of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, and 40% of cancer, could be avoided through healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoidance of tobacco use."
Overweight is defined as a body mass index above 25, while obesity is a BMI over 30.
