New Delhi:
The total number of children, adolescents and adults around the world living with obesity exceeds one billion, according to a global analysis published in The Lancet.
These trends, and the decline in the prevalence of underweight people since 1990, have made obesity the most common form of malnutrition in most countries, the researchers said.
An analysis of global data by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that global obesity rates among children and adolescents will have quadrupled in 2022 compared to 1990.
Adult obesity rates have more than doubled for women and nearly tripled for men. Research shows that by 2022, a total of 159 million children and adolescents and 879 million adults will be living with obesity.
Between 1990 and 2022, the proportion of children and adolescents worldwide affected by underweight decreased by about one-fifth for girls and by more than one-third for boys. The proportion of adults worldwide affected by being underweight has fallen by more than half over the same period.
Obesity and underweight are both types of malnutrition and can negatively impact people's health in many ways. The latest research shows in great detail global trends in both forms of malnutrition over the past 33 years.
“It is extremely worrying that the obesity epidemic that was evident among adults in many parts of the world in 1990 is now being mirrored in school-age children and adolescents,” the British Imperial Institute said. said lead author Professor Majid Ezzati from College London.
“At the same time, hundreds of millions of people are still affected by undernourishment, especially in some of the world's poorest regions. Successfully addressing both forms of malnutrition requires a healthy and nutritious diet.” It is essential to significantly improve the availability and affordability of food,” Ezzati said.
Researchers analyzed weight and height measurements of more than 220 million people aged 5 and older (63 million aged 5-19 and 158 million aged 20 and older) representing more than 190 countries. did.
The study involved more than 1,500 researchers and looked at body mass index (BMI) to understand how obesity and underweight changed around the world from 1990 to 2022.
From 1990 to 2022, global obesity rates for girls and boys increased by more than four times, with increases observed in almost every country, the study found.
Researchers found that the proportion of girls who were underweight decreased from 10.3% in 1990 to 8.2% in 2022, and for boys from 16.7% to 10.8%.
For girls, 44 countries saw a decline in the prevalence of underweight, while for boys, 80 countries saw a decline.
The total number of children and adolescents affected by obesity was nearly 160 million (65 million girls and 94 million boys) in 2022, compared to 31 million in 1990. 77 million girls and 108 million boys are underweight, fewer than before. In 1990, there were 81 million girls and 138 million boys.
Obesity rates among adults more than doubled in women and nearly tripled in men between 1990 and 2022. The rate of underweight among adults was cut in half between 1990 and 2022.
In total, it is estimated that nearly 880 million adults (504 million women and 374 million men) will be obese by 2022, an increase from 100 million adults recorded in 1990. 95 million people (128 million women and 67 million men), the researchers said.
Across all age groups, increasing obesity rates increased the total burden of both forms of malnutrition in most countries from 1990 to 2022.
However, many countries in South and Southeast Asia and some countries in Africa have eased the double burden of male malnutrition and have sharply reduced rates of underweight.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)