ANP
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 15:33
More than a billion people worldwide are obese. The one billion people mark was passed in 2022, writes the World Health Organization based on a new study in the medical journal The Lancet.
You are considered obese if the Body Mass Index (BMI) is higher than 30. You calculate the BMI by dividing your weight in kilos by the square of your body height in meters.
The number of adults with obesity has doubled since 1990. The number of children affected by this has quadrupled in the same period.
Also malnourished
Although obesity is becoming increasingly common around the world, malnutrition is still a problem in many places, such as in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
In some countries, both obesity and malnutrition are a problem. Obesity is often caused by an unhealthy diet, where people, for example, do not consume enough protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. People with obesity can therefore also be malnourished.
“This new study highlights the importance of preventing and controlling obesity from early childhood through adulthood,” said WHO Director Tedros Adhamon Ghebreyesus. According to him, more attention is needed for nutrition, physical activity and, if necessary, care.
New guidelines
BMI is not a perfect method for measuring the amount of fat and its distribution, the researchers acknowledge. But according to them, it is a method used worldwide in population studies, with a lot of available data.
In the Netherlands, doctors and other health care providers last summer came up with new guidelines for tackling and preventing obesity. This also includes a new way of diagnosing obesity: where previously BMI was mainly examined, waist circumference is now also examined to estimate health risks for overweight people.
2024-03-01 14:33:49
#billion #people #worldwide #obese
