As if it wasn’t bad enough in the United States - now the obesity epidemic has turned into a worldwide problem. New research shows an alarming number of men and women across the globe are overweight, obese, or have abdominal fat.
The study looked at 168,159 people ages 18 to 80 in 63 countries across five continents. It finds 40 percent of men and 30 percent of women are overweight… plus 24 percent of men and 27 percent of women are obese. The research is published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers measured participants’ waist circumference (WC) and calculated body mass index (BMI). They found WC was high - 56 percent of men and 71 percent of women had abdominal obesity. And BMI calculations show more than 60 percent of men and 50 percent of women were either overweight or obese.
“Overall there’s a significant increase in the frequency of heart disease and diabetes with increasing waist circumference,” says lead author Beverley Balkau, Ph.D., director of research at INSERM in France. (INSERM is the French equivalent of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.) “For men, each increase of approximately 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) means an increased frequency of about 35 percent for heart disease and for women an increase of approximately six inches (15 centimeters) equates to a 40 percent increase for heart disease. Even in people who are lean, an increasing waist circumference means increasing risk for heart disease and diabetes.”
The rates of obesity varied in different regions, ranging from a low of 7 percent in both men and women in South and East Asia, to 36 percent in Canadian men and women.
Results show the overall frequency of heart disease was 16 percent in men and 13 percent in women. And 13 percent of men and 11 percent of women overall were diagnosed with diabetes.
Researchers say governments need to take more preventive measures to stem the tide of obesity and overweight - for example, by providing more access to physical activity and encouraging people to exercise. If changes aren’t made they fear heart disease and diabetes will become worse.
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