People are getting fatter in all parts of
the world, with the possible exception of south and east Asia,
a one-day global snapshot shows.
Between half and two-thirds of men and women
in 63 countries across five continents - not including the
US - were overweight or obese in 2006.
The Circulation journal study included over
168,000 people evaluated by a primary care doctor.
Experts said the findings were deeply worrying.
People who are overweight have a higher risk
of heart disease, Type II diabetes and other diseases including
some cancers.
The International Day for the Evaluation
of Obesity (IDEA) study looked at two measures of fatness
- waist circumference and a calculation called body mass index
or BMI.
A BMI
(weight in kg divided by square of height in meters) of 18.5
to 25 is considered healthy.
A BMI over 25 is deemed overweight and greater
than 30 is obese.
Pandemic
Just 7% of people in eastern Asia were obese,
compared to 36% of people seeing their doctors in Canada,
38% of women in Middle Eastern countries and 40% in South
Africa.
Canada and South Africa led in the percentage
of overweight people, with an average BMI of 29 among both
men and women in Canada and 29 among South African women.
168,000 people were
evaluated by a doctor on a single day. The US was
not included in the report. A BMI over 25 is deemed
overweight and greater than 30 is obese.
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In Northern Europe men had an average BMI
of 27 and women 26 - just into the overweight category. In
southern Europe, the average BMI was 28. In Australia BMI
was 28 for men and 27.5 for women while in Latin America the
average BMI was just under 28.
Waist circumference was also high - 56% of
men and 71% of women carried too much weight around their
middle.
"The study results show that excess body
weight is pandemic, with one-half to two-thirds of the overall
study population being overweight or obese," said Beverley
Balkau, director of research at the French National health
research institute INSERM in Villejuif, who led the study.
That puts the rest of the world close to
par with the US, long considered the country with the worst
weight problem.
168,000 people were
evaluated by a doctor on a single day. The US was
not included in the report. A BMI over 25 is deemed
overweight and greater than 30 is obese.
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An estimated two-thirds of Americans are
overweight and a third of these are obese. In the US, the
lifetime risk of developing diabetes, is also high - 33% for
men and 38% for women.
In the study, the overall frequency of heart
disease was 16% in men and 13% in women. There was a high
frequency of heart disease in Eastern European men, 27%, and
women, 24%, in contrast to Canada where the frequency in women
was 8%, and in men 16%.
The frequency of diabetes varied across regions.
Overall, 13% of men and 11% of women were diagnosed with diabetes.
Ellen Mason of the British Heart Foundation
said: "It is tragic irony that whilst much of the world is
starving, many developed countries across the world are in
the grips of an obesity crisis.
"Whilst it is vital not to stigmatise people
in our society for being overweight, it is important we all
know the health risks from being obese. The worrying increase
of diabetes in the UK is clearly linked to rising obesity
levels and plummeting physical activity levels. Being obese
or diabetic, or worse, both, increases your chance of getting
heart disease.
"Whilst the UK may not be the worst offender
in this global study, we are aware that it's a major health
issue in our country. After seeing the heart attack death
rate reduce in the UK in the last few years, there is a real
risk that this figure could go back up if diabetes and obesity
continue to rise as they currently are."
