Tenfold increase in global child and teenage obesity in the past 40 years

The number of obese children and adolescents in the world has jumped tenfold in the past 40 years, and the rise is accelerating in low and middle-income countries, especially in Asia, a major study has revealed.

Childhood and teen obesity rates have levelled off in the US, north-west Europe and other rich countries, but remain “unacceptably high” there, researchers at Imperial College London and the World Health Organisation said yesterday.

“Over 40 years we have gone from 11 million to a more than tenfold increase to over 120 million obese children and adolescents throughout the world,” said lead author Majid Ezzati of Imperial’s School of Public Health.”

This means that nearly 8 per cent of boys and almost 6 per cent of girls worldwide were obese last year, against less than 1 per cent for both sexes in 1975.

An additional 213 million children aged 5 to 19 were overweight last year, but fell below the threshold for obesity, according to the study, based on the height and weight measurements of 129 million people.

The researchers called for more taxation, better nutrition, and more exercise to prevent a generation from becoming adults at greater risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancers because of excessive weight.

Clear food labels to identify salt, sugar and fat content are needed to help consumers make healthy choices, the study said, and taxation and tough restrictions on junk food should be considered. The WHO has already recommended a 20 per cent tax on sugary drinks to cut consumption.

South Africa, Egypt and Mexico, which had “very low levels of obesity four decades ago”, now have among the highest rates of obesity in girls, between 20 and 25 per cent, Mr Ezzati said.

“The experience of east Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean show that the transition from underweight to overweight and obesity can be rapid,” the study said.

If current trends continue, in 2022 there will be more obese children and teenagers worldwide than those who are underweight. These now number 192 million, half of them in India, the study said.

Polynesia and Micronesia had the highest rates of child obesity last year – 25.4 per cent in girls and 22.4 per cent in boys – followed by “the high-income English-speaking region” that includes the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Britain.

Among high-income countries, the US had “the highest obesity rates for girls and boys”, 19.5 per cent and 23.3 per cent, respectively.

“Children are not getting physical activity on school days, there is poor food opportunities in many schools, walking and cycling to school is going down in many countries, unsafe in many other countries, and parents are not being given the right, sufficient advice on nutrition,” said Fiona Bull of the WHO’s department of non-communicable diseases.

“Food, behaviours, portions – consumption patterns have completely changed over the past 40 years. Highly processed food is more available, more marketed and it’s cheaper.”

Consideration of taxation and tougher restrictions on the marketing of junk food were urged in the study that was based on global figures