It is almost an “epidemic”.
This Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) sounded the alarm on overweight and obesity in Europe in a new report.
“Rates of overweight and obesity have reached epidemic proportions throughout the region and continue to rise,” lamented in a press release the European branch of the organization which brings together 53 states.
In Europe, almost a quarter of adults are now obese, making the prevalence of obesity higher than in any other region except the Americas.
No country in the region can currently claim to halt the progress, the report assures.
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"Increased body mass index is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease," said WHO Europe director Hans Kluge, quoted in the document.
Overweight and obesity would thus be the cause of more than 1.2 million deaths per year, representing more than 13% of deaths in the region, according to the study.
Obesity is the cause of at least 13 different types of cancer and is likely to be directly responsible for at least 200,000 new cancer cases a year, according to the organisation, which warned that "this figure is still expected to increase in the years to come.
WHO advocates for policy interventions
The latest comprehensive data available, dating back to 2016, shows that 59% of adults and nearly one in three children (29% of boys and 27% of girls) are overweight in the Old Continent.
In 1975, barely 40% of European adults were overweight.
The prevalence of obesity has soared 138% since then, with a 21% increase between 2006 and 2016.
According to the new regional #ObesityReport from WHO/Europe, not a single country in Europe is on track to stop the rise in obesity by 2025.
Find out more in the thread 👇 & 👉 https://t.co/gjrfUOu6gK
(1 /4)#obesity pic.twitter.com/RtbrJbpuQC
— WHO/Europe (@WHO_Europe) May 3, 2022
According to the WHO, the extent of the problem was revealed with force during the Covid-19 pandemic where overweight was a risk factor.
At the same time, the restrictions (closing of schools, confinement) have “led to an increase in exposure to certain risk factors which influence the probability that a person will suffer from obesity or overweight”, underlined Hans Kluge.
The pandemic is causing harmful changes in eating and sports habits, the lasting effects of which must be reversed, argued the WHO.
“Policy interventions that target the environmental and market determinants of poor diets (…) are likely to be most effective in reversing the epidemic,” she said.
There is also a need to tax sugary drinks, subsidize healthy foods, limit the marketing of unhealthy foods to children, and support efforts to encourage lifelong physical activity, she said.