New figures on the Global Burden of Disease were published recently in
The Lancet, Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980—2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. It shows rather alarmingly that Australia and New Zealand have the greatest increases in obesity among high-income countries. Since 1980, Australia has seen a 28% increase in obesity in adult men and a 30% increase in adult women. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased in children and adolescents in developing countries from 8·1% to 12·9% for boys and from 8·4% to 13·4% in girls. In adults, estimated prevalence of obesity exceeded 50% in
men in Tonga and in women in Kuwait, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia,
Libya, Qatar, Tonga, and Samoa.
The authors of this extensive study conclude that "Not only is obesity increasing, but no national success stories have
been reported in the past 33 years. Urgent global action and leadership is
needed to help countries to more effectively intervene."
Read a summary of the report in
The Conversation, "More than 2 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese", by Anna Peeters from the Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute.
Marie Ng et al. The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 29 May 2014 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60460-8. Please contact your health library for full text of the study.
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