Overweight and obesity have reached “epidemic” proportions in Europe and continue to grow, the European Commission warned in a report on Tuesday. World Health Organization (WHO)which urges countries to take measures to curb them.
59% of adults and almost one in three children are overweight or obese in the so-called Old Continent and only America has a higher prevalence of adult obesity than Europe.
None of the 53 countries that make up the WHO European region, which also includes Russia and several former Soviet republics, is on track to meet the goal of halting the rise in obesity and overweight by 2025.
Both diseases cause around 1.2 million deaths annually, 13% of the total in the region, and obesity increases the risk of many noncommunicable diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
The report also highlights that overweight people have been affected “disproportionately” by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, with harmful changes in food consumption and physical activity that will have effects on the health of the population in the next few years and they will be difficult to reverse.
“Obesity knows no borders. In Europe and Central Asia, no country is going to meet the objective of curbing its increase,” said the director of WHO-Europe, Hans Kluge, who aimed to increase investment and innovation in health to develop solid systems to change the trend.
The WHO reminds that obesity is a complex phenomenon that goes far beyond the combination of an unhealthy diet and physical inactivity, and that the early phases of life are fundamental in the propensity to develop obesity later on.
Digital marketing of unhealthy food products to children and the proliferation of online games are contributing to the rise in overweight and obesity, the report warns.
Among the policies suggested by the WHO are the implementation of fiscal measures such as taxes on sugary drinks and subsidies for healthy food; restrictions on the promotion of unhealthy products for children and the improvement of access to overweight management services in health care.
