An “unparalleled threat” looms as a new report, published in leading medical journal the Lancet, forecasts more than half of adults and a third of young people will be overweight or obese by 2050.
Globally, there are currently 2.11 billion adults aged 25 and above, and 493 million children and young people aged five to 25, who are overweight or obese, according to the report, up from 731 million and 198 million respectively in 1990. Without urgent policy reform and action, the report, cited in the Guardian, forecasts more than half of adults worldwide (3.8 billion), and about a third of all children and young people (746 million), will be affected by 2050.
“The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental societal failure,” Professor Emmanuela Gakidou, lead author and professor of health metrics science at the University of Washington, told the Guardian.
Obesity and overweight are defined using the body mass index (BMI), which the authors concede may complicate international comparisons and risk-related thresholds across populations. Nonetheless, they explain, “BMI is currently considered the most feasible option for large-scale monitoring of the transition to obesity at the population level.”
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The authors note that maintaining a healthy lifestyle – balancing physical activity, dietary intake and sleep – is difficult living in obesogenic environments, which promote obesity by limiting access to healthful foods or opportunities to exercise, among other factors. The responsibility then falls on governments to address population-level drivers of obesity.
The report offers many examples and recommendations in terms of promoting consumption of healthy foods while taxing or banning sugary beverages and ultra-processed foods, remaking urban planning to encourage activity and breaking the intergenerational cycle of obesity through better preconception and perinatal interventions.
The authors do not address the impact of environmental hazards, however. The Guardian previously covered landmark research into the role of obesogens in “supersizing the global obesity epidemic.”
Defined as chemicals that lead to increased fat storage, obesogens include everything from pesticides to air pollution to microplastics – all of which also have direct health impacts that put more strain on overburdened health systems than obesity or being overweight alone. Government action could also focus on reducing these environmental hazards, keeping population weight lower while also reducing the incidence of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, cancer and more.
