WHO warns Europe of facing obesity problem

By Our Special Correspondent

The WHO said Tuesday that "epidemic" overweight and obesity rates are linked to over 1.2 million deaths annually across Europe, calling for swift policy changes to reverse the dangerous trend.

Obesity rates in the region have ballooned by 138 percent in the past five decades, the World Health Organization said in a new report, and is linked to a series of cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Nearly a quarter of adults are now obese in Europe, higher than in any other region except the Americas, the WHO said.

In the first such study for 15 years, the WHO said overweight and obesity rates had hit deadly levels and were “still escalating”. No country in the region was on track to meet the WHO global no communicable disease (NCD) target of halting the rise of obesity by 2025, it said.

Across Europe, 59% of adults are overweight or obese as well as 8% of children under five and one in three children of school age. Obesity prevalence in Europe is higher than in any other part of the world except the Americas, according to the report presented at the European Congress on Obesity.

The Covid-19 pandemic is also linked to growing waistlines, especially as lockdowns promoted "an unhealthy diet or sedentary lifestyle", the report found. It also revealed further health risks associated with excess weight.

Obesity is linked to a string of other diseases, including musculoskeletal complications, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and at least 13 types of cancer. The report said excess body fat led to premature death and was a leading risk factor for disability.

“Across the WHO European region, obesity is likely to be directly responsible for at least 200,000 new cancer cases annually, with this figure projected to rise in the coming decades,” the report said. “For some countries within the region, it is predicted that obesity will overtake smoking as the main risk factor for preventable cancer.”