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 A startling increase in rates of obesity in the past 40 years means
the number of people with a BMI of more than 30 has risen from 105
million in 1975 to 641 million in 2014, the study found. More than
one in 10 men and one in seven women are obese.
BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by
their height in meters squared, and is an indication of whether a
person is a healthy weight. A BMI score over 25 is overweight, over
30 is obese and over 40 is morbidly obese.
"The number of people across the globe whose weight poses a serious
threat to their health is greater than ever before," said Majid
Ezzati, a professor at the school of public health at Imperial
College London.
"And this epidemic of severe obesity is too extensive to be tackled
with medications such as blood pressure lowering drugs or diabetes
treatments alone, or with a few extra bike lanes."
To try to make a real difference, Ezzati said coordinated global
steps were needed, including addressing the pricing of healthy foods
versus unhealthy foods, or taxing high sugar and highly processed
foods.
Yet excessively low body weight remains a serious public health
issue in the world's poorest regions, the study's authors said, and
rising global trends in obesity should not overshadow the problem of
many people not getting enough to eat.
In South Asia, for example, almost a quarter of the population is
underweight. In Central and East Africa, about 12 percent of women
and 15 percent of men are underweight.
The study, published on Thursday in The Lancet medical journal,
involved the World Health Organization and more then 700 researchers
worldwide. It analyzed data on weight and height from nearly 20
million adults from 186 countries.
It found that over the past four decades, the average age-corrected
male BMI rose to 24.2 from 21.7, and in women rose to 24.4 from
22.1.
This is equivalent to the world's population becoming on average 1.5
kg heavier each decade, the researchers said.
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They predicted that if these global trends continue, 18 percent of
men and 21 percent of women will be obese by 2025.
Other key findings of the study were that:
* Japanese adults had the lowest BMIs of all high-income countries,
while American adults had the highest BMIs.
* More obese men and women now live in China and the United States
than in any other country.
* The lowest BMIs in Europe were among Swiss women and Bosnian men.
Men in Britain had the 10th highest BMI in Europe and women the 3rd
highest in Europe.
* Morbid obesity, where a person's weight interferes with basic
physical functions such as breathing and walking, now affects around
1 percent of men and 2 percent of women. In total, 55 million adults
are morbidly obese.
(Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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