A study by UNICEF, conducted in more than 190 countries, shows that the prevalence of weight insufficiency has decreased since 2000, while that of obesity has tripled. At this rate, the world must face bodies’ hunger either, but the excess that also puts lives in danger.
Obesity rates have tripled while the prevalence of weight insufficiency has dropped
Since the year 2000, UNICEF has observed a profound transformation of the nutritional profile of children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years. Weight insufficiency (or thinness) has gone from nearly 13 % to 9.2 %while obesity has gone from 3 % to 9.4 %to the point that “Obesity is ahead of weight insufficiency to become this year the most widespread form of malnutrition, now affecting 188 million children and adolescents of school age, or 1 in 10 “.
Even though undernutrition remains a drama in certain parts of the world, the number of overweight or obese children explodes. In Pacific islands as well as Nioué, the Cook or Nauru Islands, 30 % at almost 40 % of children aged 5 to 19 are affected by obesity, rates that “have all doubled since the year 2000“.
An urgent need for binding measures
UNICEF is not content to report the problem: clear recommendations emerge. Among them, impose policies to improve children’s food environments, regulate marketing intended for young people, tax unhealthy products, subsidize those that are nutritious. UNICEF stresses that responsibility is not based on children or their families, but on a “societal failure”. The organization also refutes the “myth” linked to sport: it is impossible to evade the harmful effects of junk food only through physical activity.
“”Although the fight against this public health problem has increased since the 2000s, with the application of measures such as Nutri-Score and soda tax aimed at diverting consumers from harmful products, the French government could go further, especially in terms of labeling, marketing regulation intended for children and prevention and awareness of better food “Analysis Ann Avril, Director General of UNICEF France.
A growing concern
The health consequences are not abstract: obesity in children often rhymes with hypertension, insulin resistance, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or certain cancers in adulthood.
Economically, UNICEF assesses that “Obesity health problems could, for example, cost more than $ 210 billion in Peru. Globally, by 2035, overweight and obesity could cause economic impact greater than $ 4,000 billion per year“.
Even if sub -Saharan Africa and South Asia are partly spared for the moment, all the other continents are concerned. In France, 16.7 % of children aged 5 to 19 have an overweight, of which 4 % are in obesity.