Study: 60% of adults will suffer excess weight or obesity in 2050

Almost 60% of all adults and one third of all children in the world will suffer overweight or obesity in 2050, unless governments take action, according to a new and extensive study published on Tuesday.

The research published in the magazine Lancet used data from 204 countries to paint a gloomy panorama of what it described as one of the great health challenges of the century.

“The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a deep tragedy and a monumental social failure”Emmanuela Gakidou, principal author of the American Institute for Metric and Health Evaluation (IHME), said in a statement.

This failure led to the number of people with overweight or obesity worldwide increase from 731 million in 1990 to 493 million in 2021, according to the study.

Without a change of drastic direction, the researchers estimated that 3.8 billion people-or about 60% of the world adult population-will be affected by overweight or obesity in 15 years.

It is estimated that around a quarter of the world’s obese will be over 65 years old on that date.

Experts also predicted a 121% increase in obesity between children and adolescents around the world.

In 2050 a third of all obese young people will live in two regions, North Africa and the Middle East and Latin America and the Caribbean, the researchers warned.

It is not too late to act, said Jessica Kerr, from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia, co -author of the study.

“A much stronger political commitment is needed to transform diets into sustainable global food systems and to support comprehensive strategies that improve nutrition, physical activity and life environments of people, either too many processed foods or not enough parks“, said.

According to the study, currently more than half of adults overweight or obesity in the world are concentrated in only eight countries: China, India, United States, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia and Egypt.

The text is based on figures collected by the study of the global impact of IHME diseases, which brings together thousands of researchers around the world and is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.