Signal One in eight people worldwide lives with obesity

Summary

Citing an international pooled study published in The Lancet, the report gives the figure that one in eight people worldwide suffers from obesity. More people are now overweight than underweight, and malnutrition can occur even among the overweight. Millions of people still suffer from underweight, although their number is falling. In many countries, for instance in North Africa, both forms of malnutrition occur side by side as ultra-processed food becomes more available in cities. The report regards overweight as a key factor behind a range of diseases of affluence linked to metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that raises the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and cancer.