The fat years are not over yet – on the contrary

The world is getting fatter: According to a mid-March report by the non-profit organization “World Obesity Federation”, there are about 2.6 billion overweight adults on our planet, almost a billion of them are even considered obese. This is determined on the basis of the so-called body mass index. A person’s BMI is calculated as weight divided by height in square meters. If the BMI is 25 or more, the person is considered overweight, and if the BMI is greater than or equal to 30, even obese.

Currently, about 14.2 percent of all adults are obese — and the numbers are rising. By 2030, that number is expected to be 1.246 billion people, equivalent to nearly 20 percent of all adults. With foreseeable problems: because obesity is considered a risk factor for many serious diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and at least 13 different types of cancer.

The reasons are obvious: wrong diet, ie excessive fat and calorie intake, and a lack of exercise cause unused energy to be stored in the form of fat. But obesity also has other causes: genetic predisposition, the constant availability of food, eating disorders, sleep deprivation, stress and depression are just a few.

Not only industrialized countries have long been affected, but all social classes and age groups in almost all countries, according to a comprehensive meta-analysis by an international consortium of epidemiologists, the “NCD (non-communicable disease)-Risk Factor Collaboration ” , showed. The group of scientists reviewed and evaluated studies on body weight and height published worldwide from 1975 to 2016. In total, data from nearly 130 million adults from more than 200 countries poured into the survey. The result: an almost complete picture of the body weight of the world’s population.

The highest obesity rates in 2016 were recorded in the numerous Pacific island nations, the US and Canada, as well as Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. In contrast, obesity is least prevalent in Asian countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India and Japan. Incidentally, the sumo wrestlers in the “Land of the Rising Sun” only push the numbers up a little bit, after all, there are only about 700 to 800 fighters in traditional Japanese wrestling.

The number of obese people has been rising steadily for decades: in 1975 only five percent of adults worldwide were obese. According to a forecast from the World Obesity Federation, this figure will quadruple by 2030, with the Pacific island nations continuing to take the top spots with obesity accounting for nearly 70 percent of the total adult population.

The US is the first industrialized country to rank 14. About 47 percent of American adults will have a BMI of 30 or higher by 2030. Great Britain is then the leader in Europe, with a share of 37 percent obese. Ireland, Hungary and Croatia follow closely.

And Switzerland? In an international comparison, we will be in the solid, lower midfield in 2030 with a share of 25.3 percent obese people. In European comparison, things look better: according to the current forecast, only Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova and Italy will be slightly “thinner” than Switzerland.

From a Swiss perspective, a look at the rankings is especially attractive for women: currently, the proportion of obese women in Europe is nowhere as low as in Germany (16.9 percent), and in 2030 only Denmark will have just overtaken us in this area category. Swiss men, on the other hand, fare less well: with an obesity rate of 29.4 percent, we will be in the upper midfield in this category.

Unlike in Europe, where men are obese almost everywhere, the situation in Africa is exactly the opposite – with sometimes large differences. In Botswana, for example, only 8.1 percent of all men were obese in 2016, compared to 29.3 percent of women. In other sub-Saharan African countries, the distribution is not as extreme, but similar.

On the one hand, this has something to do with a prevailing beauty ideal: fat people are traditionally considered successful in Africa – big bellies show that you have achieved something. But why are women fatter than men? “Big hips and big buttocks” (“big hips and big buttocks”) are also considered desirable in Africa because it improves the prospects of marriage and thus the chances of social advancement.

Until now, poverty and malnutrition have dominated thinking about Africa in industrialized countries. But in the fast-growing sub-Saharan metropolises, society is changing and so is their eating habits. The growing urban middle class loves beer and fried meat in large quantities. And even the poorest end up eating less and less expensive vegetables, but a lot of cheap, filling starch on their plate.

Many African countries will continue to fight hunger and malnutrition, but at the same time the proportion of obese people is increasing. And so the dangers of extreme obesity must be taken as seriously in Africa as on any other continent in the world.