Obesity has now become a world problem. This was revealed in a study presented at Congress on obesity in Vienna, Austria on 23 - 26 May 2018.
In the study, nearly a quarter (22 percent) of people in the world will be obese by 2045. This is up from just 14 percent by 2017. Meanwhile, one in eight people worldwide will have type 2 diabetes.
Based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as dividing the population of each country into age groups, researchers say to stabilize global diabetes rates by 10 percent, obesity rates should be lowered from 14 percent to 10 percent by 2045.
"These figures underscore the staggering challenges the world will face," said the world's chief medical officer at Nove Nordisk Research and Development, Alan Moses, as quoted by the New York Post on Friday (25/05/2018).
The study was co-authored by researchers from Nove Nordisk Research and Development in Søborg, Denmark, Health Advocacy in Bagsværd, Denmark, and University College London in the UK.
"Each country should work with the best strategy for them," Moses said.
Obesity has serious health risks. People with moderate weight gain before age 55 have an increased risk of premature death and chronic illness
"Our study is the first in its category, which systematically examines the relationship of weight gain from early to middle adulthood, to future health risks," said senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology, and head of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Women gained an average increase of up to 10 kilograms during research time, while men rose to 8.6 kilograms.