Obesity: 8 scary facts

With more than 1.4 billion adults overweight and more than half a billion obese, obesity has become one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21^stcentury.

Waistlines are expanding so rapidly in countries around the world that the World Health Organization (WHO) has even coined a term for the epidemic: globesity.

Governments and health organisations around the world are battling to combat the crisis that is crippling public health systems due to the rise of chronic diseases linked to obesity that are sending millions of people to an early grave. We are literally eating ourselves to death.

Check out these 8 shocking obesity facts:

• According to the WHO’s latest data on global trends in obesity (2008), the prevalence of obesity has almost doubled between 1980 and 2008. By 2008, 10% of men and 14% of women (half a billion people) in the world were obese, compared with 5% of men and 8% of women in 1980. Today, one in 10 adults in the world is obese, the WHO reports.
   
• Once associated with high-income countries, obesity is now also prevalent in low- and middle-income countries, and there are twice as many overweight as the 800 million who are undernourished, the WHO reports.
 
• The highest percentage of obese and overweight people live in the Region of the Americas (United States, South American countries and associated islands): 26% of adults are obese and 62% overweight. The lowest incidence of obesity and overweight is in the South-East Asia Region (which includes countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand): 3% obese and 14% overweight.
   
• In 2008, a total of 31.3% of South Africans were obese and 65.4% overweight. South African women are far heavier than the men (41% of women are obese and 71.8% overweight whereas 21% of men are obese and 58.5% overweight).
   
• Worldwide, 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being overweight or obese. Being overweight or obese increases the risks of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and some common cancers.
   
• In all parts of the world, women are more likely to be obese than men. In Africa, women have roughly double the obesity prevalence of men, making them more vulnerable to chronic lifestyle diseases associated with obesity.
   
• Globally, over 40 million preschool children were overweight in 2008. In 2010, 43 million children worldwide (35 million in developing countries) were estimated to be overweight and obese; and 92 million were at risk of overweight. This trend is expected to reach 60 million, in 2020.
   
• South Africans have gained weight rapidly between 1980 and 2008. Stats show that the average BMI for South African men increased from 23.1 in 2000 to 26.8 in 2008, whereas the women’s BMI increased from 27 to 29.5.

More about BMI
BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of his height in meters (kg/m2). Under WHO guidelines, a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered “healthy”, 25 to 29.9 “overweight” and 30 or above “clinically obese”. According to these BMI figures, the average South African is overweight, if not obese.

South Africa is the only country in southern Africa with an average BMI higher than 24.9 (which indicates “overweight”). The BMI figures of our neighbouring countries are:

Namibia: 22.7
Zimbabwe: 22.1
Botswana: 22.1
Zambia: 20.7
Mozambique: 22

What about you? Are you risking your health by being overweight or obese? Calculate your BMI by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters; or use our handy BMI calculator for a quick result. If your BMI is more than 24.9, you are overweight and at risk of developing countless health problems ranging from diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol and heart disease to arthritis, depression and some types of cancer. Improve your health today by starting a healthy eating plan and exercising regularly.

Ask your doctor or a dietician to help you. Start out by setting yourself small targets. Research has shown that a loss of just 5 to 10% of your starting body weight can already make a real difference.

(Birgit Ottermann, compiled from WHO stats, May 2012)