More than a billion people in the world suffer from obesity

More than 1 billion people in the world have health problems due to obesity.

According to the results of the study, which published in the Lancet journal, the obesity rate among children has quadrupled and among adults has doubled over the past 32 years, writes The Guardian.

About 1,500 scientists worked on the research, which was carried out in cooperation with the World Health Organization.

Scientists analyzed how the year changed between 1990 and 2022 body mass index (BMI) in more than 220 million people from more than 190 countries.

Researchers have found out that in 2022, 6.9% of all girls will suffer from obesity problems. In 1990, this indicator was at the level of 1.7%.

The percentage of boys who are overweight increased from 2.1% to 9.3% over the same time period.

Over three decades, the obesity rate among women in the world has increased from 8.8% to 18.5%, and among men – from 4.8% to 14%, scientists say.

At the same time, according to their data, the share of underweight people decreased both among children and among adults.

The number of children and adolescents worldwide who were underweight fell by about one-fifth among girls and by more than a third among boys.

The proportion of adults who were underweight has more than halved in 32 years, scientists say.

“Hundreds of millions of people still suffer from malnutrition, especially in some of the poorest parts of the world. To successfully tackle both forms of malnutrition, it is vital to significantly increase the availability of healthy and nutritious food.” – said the author of the study Majid Ezzati.

According to him, the obesity epidemic, which in 1990 in most countries of the world was noticeable among adults, is currently spreading to children and adolescents of school age.

As of 2022, 880 million adults and 159 million children were diagnosed with obesity. Among the countries that accounted for more than 60% of people with obesity are American Samoa and the countries of Oceania – Tonga and Nauru.

“Obesity affects every human organ system and can therefore have a significant impact on a child’s life at an early age, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer, mental disorders and many other diseases that can shorten life.” – said the director of the National Health Service of England for children and young people, Simon Kenny.

We used to reportedhow ultra-processed food is linked to premature death.