Obesity Epidemic On The Rise As It Enters Its Fourth Decade

Kudos, fatsos.

The first paper in The Lancet Obesity Series describes the global initiators of the obesity epidemic according to a study by Professor Boyd Swinburn and Dr Gary Sacks from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.

The increase of obesity (defined by a body-mass index (BMI) greater than 30kg/m2) is worldwide, however rates vary widely between countries; whereas in Japan and China only 1 in 20 adult women is obese, in the Netherlands 1 in 10 women are grossly overweight compared to 1 in 4 in the UK and Australia, 1 in 3 in the USA, and a staggering 7 in 10 women in Tonga.

The steady rise in the apparent food consumption per capita in high-income countries in the 70's and 80's seems to be associated with the simultaneous start of the obesity epidemic.

Cut-off publicly paid care for diseases of choice.

Watch the trend reverse.