Fact - Obesity is becoming a global epidemic! A new report by the World Health Organization documents how one-quarter of the total 60 million deaths annually are premature and preventable deaths. So with obesity being classed as a preventable disease, why are more people dying of this illness than those who are suffering from starvation and malnutrition?
Over the past 40 years people who suffer with obesity have more than doubled globally, with more than 1.5 billion adults (above the age of 20) and 45 million children under the age of five overweight or obese; yet 925 million were underfed according to the Red Cross. These figures were denounced as a ‘shocking’ demonstration that the world produces enough food yet people still go hungry.
The Red Cross claimed it was a ‘double-edged’ scandal that fewer people died of malnutrition than those that were being killed by ‘excess nutrition’.
Bekele Geleta a member of the Red Cross quoted: ‘If the free interplay of market forces has produced an outcome where 15 per cent of humanity are hungry while 20 per cent are overweight, something has gone wrong somewhere.’
One in 11 deaths in the UK alone are now linked to obesity, which causes diabetes, heart problems and many other illnesses; and with recent figures suggesting by 2030 nearly half of men and nearly as many women in Britain will be classed as obese, something must be done soon.
America is also spending over 10 million dollars an hour on obesity related healthcare and there are more overweight children in developing countries than in developed countries, so this fast growing worldwide epidemic seems to now be getting out of hand.
Head of policy at Christian Aid Alex Cobham, quotes: ‘A rise in the numbers both of obese people and people in hunger on the face of it seems counter-intuitive.
The reason most people become overweight or obese is due to taking in more calories than they need on a regular basis.The key to beating this is understanding it - those extra calories are converted into extra weight. However the weight gain can differ from one person to another due to factors like metabolism, health issues and lack of exercise.
