The Tsunami Of Obesity Is Upon Us

More than one in 10 of the world’s population is obese – more than half a billion adults – and rates have doubled since 1980. The biggest increases are in the richer nations but almost every country has seen rates rise.

The rise is being driven by increasing urbanisation, the growth of sedentary, office-based lifestyles and the substitution of Western-style fast foods for traditional diets. Researchers from Imperial CollegeLondon and McMaster University in Canada, writing in The Lancet, describe it as a “tsunami of obesity that will eventually affect all regions of the world”.

In its wake comes an epidemic of heart disease and stroke, linked with high blood pressure and raised cholesterol levels. Remarkably, high-income countries such as the US and UK have managed to avoid this, by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol with drugs and dietary changes, such as reducing salt and fats. Smoking too, one of the key causes of heart disease, has fallen.

Citing the noted British epidemiologist Geoffrey Rose, the authors say: “Mass disease and mass exposures require mass remedies. Mass remedies require the masses to be part of the solution.”

The US is World’s Fastest Growing Fatties

The US saw the biggest rise in BMI of all developed nations between 1980 and 2008, more than 1kg a decade. Increasingly sedentary occupations, less walking and cycling, more driving in cars and rising consumption of fast foods and sugary drinks are behind the rise which affects all high-income countries.

World’s smallest Nation is also the Fattest

Nauru is the world’s fattest country, with an average BMI of 34 to 35. Located in the south Pacific it is the smallest island nation, with a population of less than 10,000. Obesity has grown as a result of the importation of Western foods paid for with proceeds from phosphate mining. The most popular dish is fried chicken and cola.

Source:Scientists warn of ‘tsunami of obesity’