The obesity 'pandemic' affects one in eight individuals
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19 March 2024
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April 2, 2024
Zero hunger and an end to all forms of malnutrition by 2030. The Sustainable Development Goal (Sustainable Development Goal) n. 2 set by the UN, which aims to eliminate hunger and malnutrition by ensuring everyone has access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food, clashes with the obesity pandemic and all the forms of malnutrition for which it is needed a nutritional transition that improves access to healthy food.
The alarm sounded on the occasion of the publication of a new study in The Lancet (in which the World Health Organization also took part) which processes data collected from 1990 to 2022 from 3.663 scientific studies. (1)
The obesity 'pandemic'
Globally, more than one billion people – one in eight – live with obesity. From 1990 to 2022, the incidence is
– more than doubled among adults
– quadrupled among children and adolescents (from 5 to 19 years of age). (2)
Malnutrition
Malnutrition has declined, on average, but remains a public health challenge in several territories, especially in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The countries with the highest rates combined for underweight and obesity in 2022 were Pacific and Caribbean island nations and those in the Middle East and North Africa.
All forms of malnutrition
Malnutrition includes overweight and obesity, undernutrition, wasting, underweight and stunting.
Malnutrition, reminds the WHO, is responsible for half of the deaths of children under 5 years of age and obesity can cause non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and some tumors.
'This new study highlights the importance of preventing and managing obesity from early childhood to adulthood, through diet, physical activity and appropriate care, as needed. Getting back on track to meet global obesity reduction goals will require the work of governments and communities, supported by evidence-based policies from WHO and national public health agencies. Importantly, it requires the cooperation of private sector, which must be responsible for the health impact of its products', says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO.
Put an end to malnutrition
A systematic review in Lancet analyzes global trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022 through an aggregate analysis of thousands of studies covering 222 million people, including children, adolescents and adults.
'A nutritional transition healthy food that improves access to nutritious foods' is necessary, the study highlights, to address the phenomena of underweight and at the same time reverse the growth of obesity.
The reference is at Zero Hunger, a world free from hunger according to the Sustainable Development Goals. But there has been an alarming increase in hunger and food insecurity since 2015,”a trend exacerbated by a combination of factors including the pandemic, conflict, climate change and deepening inequalities.
Within the 2022, around 735 million people – or 9,2% of the global population – found themselves in a state of chronic hunger – a staggering increase compared to 2019. This data underlines the gravity of the situation, revealing a growing crisis". (3)
Food insecurity is growing
In 2022 approximately 2,4 billion people found themselves in a condition of food insecurity. It means, explains the UN, lack of access to sufficient food. And this is an increase of 391 million people compared to 2019.
'Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. Therefore, optimal nutrition and health policies should address both forms of malnutrition, as indicated by Sustainable Development Goal Target 2.2, which calls for an end to all forms of malnutrition. recall the authors of the study.
Technological and food changes
The survey it also refers to the 'economic and technological changes' that have influenced the quantity and type of food consumed. While there has been a decline in the consumption of animal-based foods in high-income countries, in many low- and middle-income countries there has been an increase in calorie intake and increased consumption of animal-based foods, sugar, vegetables and oil crops.
Processed and ultra-processed foods play an important role in malnutrition. (4)
'The shift in obesity onset toward younger ages over these three decades may be due to the fact that eating out and access to commercial and processed foods in school-age children and adolescents have followed that of adults in this period', the researchers note.
Prevention and inequalities
'There is an urgent need to prevent obesity. Prevention and management are particularly important because the age of onset of obesity has decreased, which increases the duration of exposure', warn the authors of the study.
The research highlights for example that most efforts to prevent obesity have focused on individual behaviors or isolated changes in the food environment. And these had 'limited impact on the prevalence of obesity, in part because healthy foods, participation in sport and other active lifestyles are not accessible or affordable for people with low income and independence'.
Again when we talk about obesity and nutrition we must then talk about social inequalities which in some more fragile segments of the population means impossibility or poor access to healthy foods and sporting opportunities. These initial inequalities in obesity, and therefore in health status, can in turn limit the impact of policies that target unhealthy foods.
Low-cost nutrition
The threat of junk food is also creeping into countries afflicted by significant pockets of malnutrition, especially in South and South-East Asia and in some parts of Africa. 'The underweight-obesity transition can occur rapidly', warn the researchers.
Ensuring access to nutritious and healthy food, in fact, is as essential as it is complicated.
'Both poverty and the cost of food, especially nutrient-dense foods, have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Together with the negative impact of climate change on food production and supply, these factors risk worsening both underweight and obesity through a combination of underconsumption in some countries and households and a shift to less healthy foods in others', underline the researchers, who hope for the adoption of economic and agricultural policies that tackle poverty and improve food security, food assistance, free and healthy school meals, nutritional interventions.
The agenda of actions promoted by the World Health Organization includes promotion and support of breastfeeding, rules against harmful food marketing aimed at children, food and nutrition policies in schools, tax and pricing policies to promote healthy diets , integration of obesity prevention and management into primary healthcare.
Sabrina Bergamini
Note
(1) NCD Risk Factors Collaborators (NCD-RisC). Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults The Lancet https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02750-2
(2) WHO. One in eight people are now living with obesity. 1.3.24 https://www.who.int/news/item/01-03-2024-one-in-eight-people-are-now-living-with-obesity
(3) UNITED NATIONS. Goal 2 Zero Hunger https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/
(4) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Ultraprocessed foods, the worst evil. Appeal of scientists in the British Medical Journal. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
