Global Alert: Obesity Growing Worldewide

A new study has shown that one doesn’t have to be diagnosed as obese to be at risk of dying from illnesses related to excess weight. According to a new study published in the ‘New England Journal of Medicine’, more than one in 10 people worldwide are now obese, with weight-related health problems claiming millions of lives every year.

The study found that more than 2 billion children and adults suffered from health problems linked to being overweight, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, an increasing percentage had a body mass index (BMI) of less than 30, the The Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has disowned a phoney conversation circulating on social media purporting to be a phone call between him and Alhaji Kashim Shettima, the Governor of Borno State.

In what is turning out to be one of the most vicious and ungodly acts, meant to further create confusion in the land, a 20:38 (twenty minutes and thirty eight seconds) telephone conversation, purportedly be threshold for obesity.

Of the four million deaths attributed to being overweight in 2015, nearly 40 per cent were not considered clinically obese. People are generally considered obese when their body mass index (BMI), a measurement obtained by dividing a person’s weight by the square of the person’s height, is over30 kg/ m2, with the range25–30 kg/m2 defined as overweight.

Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive food intake, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility. A few cases are caused primarily by genes, endocrine disorders, medications, or mental disorder. The ‘bbc’ reported that the findings highlighted “a growing and disturbing global public health crisis”.

The author of the study and director of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, Dr. Christopher Murray said, “People who shrug off weight gain do so at their own risk – risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and other life threatening conditions.

The study, which looked at 195 countries and territories over a period of 35 years, from 1980 to 2015, revealed that 30 per cent of the world’s population – 2.2 billion children and adults – are affected by excess weight.
This includes nearly 108 million children and more than 600 million adults who are categorised as a having a BMI of higher than 30 and therefore medically defined as obese. Obesity has been increasing around the globe since 1980, doubling in more than 70 countries.

The United States, U.S. has the highest level of obesity among adults and children, at nearly 13 per cent of the population. Egypt on its part, topped the list for adult obesity, at about 35 per cent.

In Nigeria, obesity is fast becoming a health concern especially among the elite in cities. The indulgent lifestyles of this class of people makes them vulnerable to obesity and its attendant health issues.  

Categories: General