A global overweight and obesity pandemic has put the world against the strings. Posted on Monday in the magazine The Lancet They have concluded that, in the last 30 years, excess weight increased more than double throughout the globe until unprecedented figures reached: in 2021, there were more than 2,110 million and 493 million decon overweight or obesity. Worst of all, the forecasts for the next decades are not very flattering and there is no corner of the planet that is saved from an increase in the prevalence of these paintings. Investigations estimate that, if urgent measures are not taken, about 60% of adults and a third of the world’s children will suffer excess weight in 2050. The highest levels are foreseen in Oceania islands and in the Middle East, but Spain also appears among the 10 rich countries with the highest rates in men (up to 77% in male population over 25 years old).
The calculations of the two studies leave no doubt: the strategies to stop overweight and – input to dozens of diseases, such as cancer, or cardiovascular problems – have failed. Excess weight grows faster and obesity arises before, so that associated ailments also appear at earlier ages. The authors warn that the impact of global inaction can be for humanity. “If these global forecasts are fulfilled, the repercussions will not only be overwhelming for people, but the resulting burden will be devastating for health, social, planetary and economic systems,” they say.
In 2021, some Pacific islands, such as Nauru, Cook, Samoa or Tonga Islands, had obesity and overweight rates above 70% in children’s population and were around 90% in adults. By 2050, the calculations are even more the problem in those areas and other countries in the Middle East, such as Egypt, Kuwait or Syria, where almost its adult population (the prevalence exceeds 94%) will have excess weight. “The unprecedented world epidemic of overweight and obesity is a deep tragedy and a monumental social failure,” says the main author of the study in adults, Professor Emmanuela Gakidou, of the Institute of Metrics and Health Evaluation (IHME) of the University of Washington (United States), in a statement.
The results of the investigations published in The Lancet —In analyzing excess weight in adults and children during the last three decades in more than 200 countries and also designate the projections for the next 25 years – they follow the wake of previous studies that advanced that obesity is already the form of in most countries. These new findings put figures to the long -term phenomenon and estimate that, if the trend is maintained, 3.8 billion adults and 746 million children will suffer excess weight.
Excess weight is the key that opens the door to dozens of serious diseases. It is dangerous in adulthood, but it is much more complex yet if that pestillo declines above all, due to the complexity of reversing that situation over the years and also because of the risk of the appearance of their own diseases of adults in the childth population. Some ailments, by the way, that will most likely end up perpetuating over time. “Obesity is rarely resolved after adolescence and more risks arise in adulthood, such as infertility, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and liver diseases and kidneys,” says the authors.
The footprint in childhood
At the foot of consultation, in fact, and that mechanical, metabolic and psychological footprint that leaves obesity in smaller and smaller kids. Albert Goday, head of the Endocrinology Section at the Hospital del Mar de Barcelona, gives the example of type 2 diabetes, a traditionally diagnosed disease in older adults and now increasingly frequent in young population: “The damage that an associated disease can make obesity depends, probably depends on the time of exposure to that lipotoxicity. If you appear in younger people, the exhibition is older, ”he abounds.
In the calculations of the evolution of excess weight in children under 25, the researchers point out that overweight is stabilizing, but obesity does not. Obesity grows. In fact, there are no indications that it is stopped in any region in the world before 2050. And the forecasts suggest that the transition to obesity will be especially rapid in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Goday, who has not participated in this investigation, calls the “very alarming” figures, especially in low -income countries. “This epidemic, until now, we are not being able to increase in Europe and is worrying, but it is not as chilling as in other regions of the world. It is growing more in countries with less health resources and for them it can be devastating, ”he values.
In the group of developed countries, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Greenland and the United States (all with rates above 35%) are currently some of the 10 territories with the highest figures of children and young people with obesity and overweight. By 2050, these countries will continue in the upper part of the table, although, by then, Spain will also be added, which will reach 48% prevalence in the case of the male infant population. In adults, the calculations expect that, within 25 years, three out of four Spanish men (77%) will have excess weight (overweight or obesity). Spanish women, meanwhile, also appear at the top of the specific obesity tables: one in five girls and adolescents and 45% of those over 25 will suffer from this picture.
Obesity faster and before
One of the phenomena that researchers have certified is that recent generations are increasing weight faster than the previous ones and obesity is appearing before. An example: in rich countries, 25 -year -old men who had obesity in the sixties were barely 7%; Among those born in the nineties, however, these figures amounted to 16% and the calculations estimate that 25% will be reached between those born in 2015.
Scientists consider, yes, that “it is not too late to stop the transition towards the obesity of most children and adolescents in the world,” but we must intervene urgently. They ensure that the next five years are “crucial” to take measures and anticipate that it will not be enough with individual interventions. “Without being accompanied by, isolated behavior change strategies based on lifestyle and oriented individually do not produce significant or sustainable change, unless they are very intensive,” they point out. And they emphasize that “it is governments, instead of people”, who have to take reins with effective measures, also about prices, marketing and the influence of the food industry.
The authors also focus on adolescent obesity during the fertile years and emphasize the serious health consequences that can be perpetuated from generation to generation if measures are not taken: “Unless they provide urgent treatments and interventions to these adolescents, the high rates of obesity will not only unleash serious epidemics of diseases (for example, cancer) during adolescence and complications of pregnancy and perinatal (for example, spontaneous abortion, preeclampsia), but exposure to an obese intrauterine environment will predetermine the health of ”, they warn.
Doubts with the strategy of revolutionary drugs
Regarding the role of the revolutionaries drugs against obesity, such as Ozempic or similar other, the authors admit that their potential is “promising”, but maintain caution with respect to their global impact and claim the potential of public health strategies. “Obesity medications seem to have the potential to reach a broader population. However, the complex and heterogeneous nature behind obesity means that it varies between individuals, ”they justify. And they also mention the access and cost of these medications such as some obstacles to consider: “Obesity medications are not easily available in many low and medium income countries, and the cost of treatments is high. Although the commercial exclusivity of several [fármacos] Soon it will expire and it is expected that generic versions of lower cost will be available, which will potentially expand access, given the uncertainty in the long -term results, the sustainability and scalability of the medications against obesity as a remedy to the world epidemic of obesity are doubtful, ”justify the authors.
Andreea Ciudin, Chief of the Integral Treatment Unit indel Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona and a member of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Society for the study of obesity, coincides with the authors in which innovative drugs will be helpful, but will not solve the global crisis. “I don’t know how we can stop so many, it has entered a difficult spiral. I do not know if we will be able to reverse all this arriving at this prevalence: drugs can help, but no health system can sustain to serve 30% of its population, ”admits the expert, who has not participated in the studies published in The Lancet.
