Researchers call for urgent action and global policy reforms to resolve a serious health problem: the prediction of a generalized obesity pandemic by 2050.
A recent study has revealed that obesity could affect more than half of adults and a third of children and adolescents worldwide over the next 25 years. The study estimated the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and young adolescents (aged 5 to 14), older adolescents (aged 15 to 24) and adults (aged 25 and over) in 204 countries and territories. He examined data from 1990 to 2021, with forecasts extending until 2050.
The obesity rate has more than doubled in the past three decades, affecting 2.11 billion adults and 493 million young people worldwide in 2021. If the world does not act now, researchers warn, it will face an “unequaled threat of premature and death diseases”.
Another shocking revelation is that the burden of obesity will be concentrated in a disproportionate manner in certain regions. By 2050, experts predict that an in three young people with obesity (around 130 million) will only live in two areas in two areas: North Africa and the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean. This alarming trend should have great -reaching health, economic and societal consequences.
“While the greatest number of overweight and obesity adults are still expected in China (627 million), India (450 million) and the United States (214 million) in 2050, the number in sub-Saharan Africa should increase by more than 250% to 522 million, driven by population growth” press release noted.
Estimates have shown that around 25% of the adult population in the world with an obesity in 2050 will be 65 years of age, additional efforts are already overloaded health systems, especially in low -income countries.
“The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental societal failure,” said author’s principal professor Emmanuela Gakidou of the Institute for metrics and the health assessment (IHME), University of Washington.
Researchers have observed that more recent generations gain weight faster than previous ones, obesity occurring at previous ages. This trend increases the risk of complications such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and multiple cancers at a younger age.
“But if we act now, the prevention of a complete transition to global obesity for children and adolescents is still possible,” said the co-leader author Jessica Kerr de Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia.
(tagstranslate) Obesity