More than a billion people in the world are obese – 2024-03-10 04:58:28

According to THL, approximately every second adult in Finland has waist obesity. AOP

According to a global estimate, more than one billion people are obese, according to the publication of the medical journal Lancet. The estimate is based on 2022 data, according to which approximately 880 million adults and 159 million children are obese.

Obesity is most common in women in Tonga and American Samoa, and in men in American Samoa and Nauru. In these island nations, around 70-80 percent of adults are obese.

– In many of these island states, it’s about the availability of healthy food compared to unhealthy food, a professor at Imperial College London Majid Ezzati tells the BBC.

Obesity increases the risk of many serious diseases. They include, among others, heart diseases, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.

The report found that obesity has doubled in women, tripled in men and quadrupled in children and adolescents between 1990 and 2022.

– The research highlights the importance of obesity prevention and control from early life stages to adulthood through diet, physical activity and adequate care, says Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Ghebreyesus recommends measures such as taxing sugar products and investing in healthy school meals to fight obesity.

Several countries are grappling with an obesity crisis, but the number of underweight adults has halved since the 1990s. Nevertheless, underweight remains a significant problem, especially in poor areas.

According to the Institute of Health and Welfare, one in five Finnish girls and one in four boys between the ages of 2 and 16 are overweight or obese. Almost every second Finnish adult has waist obesity.

Doctor Guha Pradeepaone of the study’s authors, says that major global crises can exacerbate malnutrition caused by both obesity and underweight.

– The effects of climate change, the corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine threaten to worsen the number of both obese and underweight people by increasing poverty and the cost of healthy food, says Pradeepa.

The study analyzed the body mass index of approximately 220 million people aged five and older. The researchers point out that body mass index is not a perfect indicator, but they say it is the most widely used measure, which allows for global analysis.

In the study, obesity was defined as a body mass index of 30 or greater and underweight as 18.5 or less.