At the other end of the malnutrition scale, obesity is one of the most visible – but also most neglected – public health problems today. Paradoxically coexisting with undernutrition, a growing global epidemic of overweight and obesity – “globesity” – is gripping many regions of the world. If immediate action is not taken, millions of people will suffer from a range of serious health problems.
Obesity is a complex disease, with serious social and psychological dimensions, which affects virtually all age and socio-economic groups and threatens to overwhelm both developed and developing countries. In 1995, there were approximately 200 million obese adults worldwide and 18 million overweight children under the age of five. Since 2000, the number of obese adults has increased to more than 300 million. Contrary to popular belief, the obesity epidemic is not limited to industrialized societies; In developing countries, it is estimated that more than 115 million people suffer from obesity-related problems.
In general, although men may have higher rates of overweight, women have higher rates of obesity. In either case, obesity poses a major risk of serious diet-related noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, as well as some forms of cancer. Its health consequences range from increased risk of premature death to serious chronic diseases that reduce overall quality of life.
