Adult Obesity Overwhelms the World

This week, the results of a massive study on world obesity have been released by the top medical research institute in France and published in the U.S. Journal of the American Heart Association.

The study, which focused on determining the percentage of both clinically obese and overweight people among adults aged 18 to 80 from urban and rural areas of 63 countries, involved over 168,000 subjects and found out that roughly a quarter of the world population are grossly overweight. According to the results of the research, about 24 percent of men and over 27 percent of women of the world are obese, and an additional 40 percent of men and 30 percent of women have excess pounds and are classified as “overweight”.

Scientist Beverly Balkau, who was heading the study at France’s National Institute for Health and Medical Research, says that the obtained results are correct to give a “snapshot” of the worldwide situation with obesity, and that the study was the most extensive of all ever carried to determine the average weight of the world population. He also added that the results of the study show that the world is facing a real epidemic of obesity. In order to combat it, governments of different countries should become more persistent in promoting healthy lifestyles, balanced nutrition, and physical activities.

To determine the benchmark for obesity, the BMI (body mass index) was used, which is defined as a weight (expressed in kilograms) divided by the square of a height (in meters). If BMI is within the range of 18.5 up to 25 - the individual has a healthy weight; BMI ranging from 25 to 30 indicates that the individual is overweight, and if BMI equals or exceeds 30 - obesity is diagnosed.

The average rate of obesity differs from one country to the other: for both sexes, it rages from seven percent in the countries of Asia to almost 36 percent in the U.S. and Canada. The highest percentage of overweight women (38 to 40 percent), though, is observed in Africa and Middle East. The proportion of overweight adult population is roughly the same in all countries, both industrialized and developing.

A part of the study, that focused on the evaluation of abdominal obesity, showed that the accumulation of fat in the mid-body area is strongly correlated with an increased risk of adult-onset diabetes, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease. The research revealed that more than a half (56 percent) of adult males have a waste size over the critical line of 36 inches (94 centimetres), while even more women (71 percent) have their waste sizes exceeding the critical line of 32 inches (81 centimetres) around. It is estimated that, for man, a 5.5 inches (14 centimetres) waist size increase above the norm raises the risk of getting heart disease by 36 percent and diabetes by 59 percent, while, for women, a 40 percent raise in the incidence of cardiovascular disease and an 83 percent raise in diabetes are correlated with a waist line size increase of 6 inches (15 centimetres).

The results of the study should alarm governments of almost all nations of the world, but especially those of highly developed industrialized counties, such as U.S. and Canada.

Tim Ford