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 The figures, which predict 89 percent of Irish men and 77 percent of
Greek men will be overweight by 2030, present "a worrying picture of
rising obesity across Europe", researchers said, with very few
countries showing decreasing trends.
"Although there is no silver bullet for tackling the epidemic,
governments must do more to restrict unhealthy food marketing and
make healthy food more affordable," said Dr Laura Webber of the UK
Health Forum, which worked with the WHO and the European Commission
to produce the new projections.
She also said insufficient data from some countries in the WHO's
European region - which comprises 53 nations - made surveillance of
obesity more difficult, hampering efforts to make accurate
predictions.
A body mass index (BMI) - calculated by dividing a person's weight
in kilograms by the square of their height in meters - of more than
25 is classified as overweight. A BMI of more than 30 is classed as
obese.
The latest predictions used data from across the region and compared
the proportions of overweight people and obese people in 2010 with
projected future levels.
They showed that by 2030, a third of women in the UK are forecast to
be obese, compared with 26 percent in 2010. For UK men, almost
three-quarters will be overweight and 36 percent are likely to be
obese in 2030, compared with 70 percent and 26 percent respectively
in 2010.
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The researchers, who were due to present their data at the European
Congress on Obesity in Prague on Wednesday, said other countries
with projected steep rises in obesity included Greece, Spain,
Sweden, Austria and the Czech Republic.
The proportion of obese Greek men will more than double from 20
percent to 44 percent between 2010 and 2030, and the proportion of
obese Greek women is seen doubling to 40 percent.
Even in countries usually recording a lower prevalence of obesity,
such as Sweden, obesity rates are predicted to rise sharply. An
estimated 26 percent of Swedish men will be obese by 2030 compared
with 14 percent in 2010, while for women obesity rates will rise
from 12 percent to 22 percent.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Larry King)
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