Global Obesity Archives - Amazing Health Advances

1/3 Children Worldwide Forecast to be Obese or Overweight by 2050

The AHA! Team — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 05:39:15 +0000

Murdoch Childrens Research Institute via EurekAlert! – Obesity rates are set to skyrocket, with one in six children and adolescents worldwide forecast to be obese by 2050, according to a new study. But with significant increases predicted within the next five years, the researchers stress urgent action now could turn the tide on the public health crisis. The research, led by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and published in The Lancet, found a third of children and adolescents will be overweight (385 million) or obese (360 million) within the next 25 years. The forecast equates to 356 million children aged 5–14 years and 390 million aged 15–24 years with one in six facing obesity. The global obesity rate for those between 5-24 years old tripled from 1990 to 2021, rising by 244 per cent to 174 million, suggesting that current approaches to curbing increases in obesity have failed a generation of young people. As of 2021, 493 million children and adolescents were overweight or obese. MCRI Dr Jessica Kerr said if immediate five-year action plans were not developed, the future was bleak for our youth. “Children and adolescents remain a vulnerable population within the obesity epidemic,” she said. Prevention is key as obesity rarely resolves after adolescence. “This giant burden will not only cost the health system and the economy billions, but complications associated with a high Body Mass Index (BMI), including diabetes, cancer, heart problems, breathing issues, fertility problems and mental health challenge, will negatively impact our children and adolescents now and into the future, even holding the potential to impact our grandchildren’s risk of obesity and quality of life for decades to come. “Despite these findings indicating monumental societal failures and a lack of coordinated global action across the entire developmental window to reduce obesity, our results provide optimism that this trajectory can be avoided if action comes before 2030.” The analysis, released on World Obesity Day, used the 2021 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation to estimate the latest overweight and obesity levels and forecasts in 204 countries and territories. The United Arab Emirates, Cook Islands, Nauru and Tonga are forecast to have the highest prevalence while China, Egypt, India and the US will have the greatest number of children and adolescents with obesity by 2050. In Australia, children and adolescents have experienced some of the fastest transitions to obesity in the world. Girls are already more likely to be obese than overweight. Overall, by 2050 for those aged 5-24 years, 2.2 million are forecasted to be obese and 1.6 million overweight. Globally, there will be more boys, 5–14 years, with obesity than being overweight by 2050. “Without urgent policy reform, the transition to obesity will be particularly rapid in north Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and in the Caribbean, where the rise is concurrent with high population numbers and limited resources,” Dr Kerr said. “Many regions have historically had to focus on preventing undernutrition and stunting in children. To prevent a public health emergency from this newer threat, an immediate imperative should be creating national surveillance surveys of obesity in children and adolescents in every country.” Dr Kerr said older adolescent girls, aged 15-24 years entering their reproductive years, were a priority population for intervention. “Adolescent girls who are obese are a main focus if we are to avoid intergenerational transmission of obesity, chronic conditions and the dire financial and societal costs across future generations,” she said. “With this age group increasingly being out of school and cared for by adult services, we need to focus interventions at the community and commercial level.” MCRI Professor Susan Sawyer said governments needed to invest in multicomponent strategies that reduce obesity drivers, across food and drink, activity, lifestyle and the built environment. “While people and families can work to balance their physical activity, diet and sleep, everything in our environments works to counteract these efforts,” she said. “Given this huge global shift in children’s and adolescents’ weight, we can no longer keep blaming people for their choices. We require governments to step up by addressing regulatory interventions including taxing sugar sweetened beverages, banning junk food advertising aimed at children and young people and funding healthy meals in primary and secondary schools. We also need to consider the benefits of wider policies such as overhauling urban planning to encourage active lifestyles.” Publication: ‘Global, regional, and national prevalence of child and adolescent overweight and obesity, 1990-2021, with forecasts to 2050: a forecasting study for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021,’ The Lancet. *The content of this communication is the sole responsibility of MCRI and does not reflect the views of the NHMRC. Available for interview: Dr Jessica Kerr, MCRI Adolescent Health researcher Professor Susan Sawyer, MCRI, Group Leader, Adolescent Health Professor Peter Azzopardi, MCRI, Group Leader, Global Adolescent Health Journal The Lancet DOI 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)00397-6 To read the original article click here.

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Are Big Retail Chains Driving Global Obesity? Study Confirms Alarming Link

The AHA! Team — Mon, 12 May 2025 05:07:00 +0000

Dr. Sanchari Sinha Dutta, Ph.D. via News-Medical – As large retail chains dominate global food markets, unhealthy eating soars—highlighting an urgent need to reshape food environments to combat rising obesity rates. In a recent study published in Nature Food, researchers assess the impact of the retail food environment on global health. An overview of the global food landscape South Asia experienced a dramatic 275% rise in the density of chain outlets from 2009 to 2023, highlighting a rapid shift toward large corporate food systems. Over the past 50 years, global food systems have radically transformed from independent and traditional food sources to systems that are often urbanized, industrialized, digitalized, and run by large retail conglomerates. These changes have increased the availability and affordability of many foods; however, modern global food systems are associated with numerous challenges, including inequitable access to nutritious foods and increased consumption of highly processed products. Compared to traditional foods like grains, fruits, and vegetables, highly processed packaged foods are often high in energy while lacking essential nutrients. Consuming these foods increases the risk of numerous non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the most common of which include obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Diet-related decisions can be largely influenced by the type of retail food environment, which encompasses supermarkets, convenience stores, vending machines, cafes, and restaurants. Multinational food chains, for example, often offer affordable foods that are highly processed and unhealthy. Therefore, when these retailers are the only source of food in low- and middle-income regions, they inevitably contribute to NCD-related morbidity and mortality in these populations. To date, few studies have compared differences in the density of retail food systems within and between countries. Thus, it is imperative to better understand current and historical trends in the global food retail landscape and how these differences in food systems impact the prevalence of NCDs. Study findings Digital grocery sales surged globally, especially in upper-middle-income countries, signaling a new frontier in how unhealthy foods reach consumers. The researchers of the current study measured changes in physical and digital retail food environment indicators across 97 and 23 different countries, respectively, from 2009 to 2023 and 2013 to 2023. Between 2009 and 2023 the density of chain outlets increased from 2.63 to 3.25 for every 10,000 individuals, respectively, a rise of over 23.6%. This growth was faster in low—and middle-income countries before 2017. The slowest growth of chain outlets in high-income countries was observed between 2016 and 2020. Overall, a consistent rate of chain outlet growth was observed in upper-middle income countries during the study period. Between 2009 and 2023, the density of non-chain outlets decreased by 13.7%, with every nation outside of North America experiencing a reduction every year. The greatest decrease was observed in upper-middle income countries, followed by low-to-middle income and high-income countries. North America showed the highest reliance on chain stores for unhealthy food, accounting for more than 80% of these sales throughout the study period. The ratio of non-chain to chain outlets decreased by 61% during the study period, with low- and middle-income countries experiencing the largest decline despite having the highest number of non-chain outlets for each chain outlet. Between 2009 and 2023, grocery sales from chain outlets increased by 8.5% in all nations included in the analysis, with South Asia experiencing the greatest increase of 6.68%. However, North America and sub-Saharan Africa did not report any changes in the percentage of grocery sales from chain retailers. The sale of unhealthy foods increased by 4.9% between 2009 and 2023 with South Asia reporting the greatest annual increase during this period. No significant changes in the sales of unhealthy foods were reported in North America. The percentage of unhealthy food sales from chain outlets also increased significantly by 10.9% during this period. In North America, over 80% of unhealthy food sales were from chain outlets, compared to 30% in South Asia. Impact of the retail food environment on obesity The prevalence of obesity increased by about 2% between 2009 and 2022, with all included geographical regions reporting a significant rise in obesity rates. The density of chain and non-chain outlets and the sales of unhealthy foods positively correlated with obesity rates. As the number of non-chain grocery stores reduced in certain nations, the likelihood of rising obesity rates increased. Study takeaways An increasingly corporatized retail food environment is associated with increases in obesity prevalence. Surprisingly, sub-Saharan Africa and North America were unique, showing no notable rise in the proportion of grocery sales made by large chain retailers over the study period. Large chain retailers gain the power to manipulate prices to maximize profits and increase the sale of ultra-processed, unhealthy, and packaged foods by largely dominating food markets. These factors can collectively manipulate customers to develop unhealthy food habits, potentially increasing the risk of developing NCDs like obesity. The study findings emphasize the crucial need to monitor the role of retail food environment transformation on human and planetary health, especially in low—and middle-income countries, where this change is more rapid and pronounced. Journal reference: Scapin, T., Romaniuk, H., Feeley, A., et al. (2025). Global food retail environments are increasingly dominated by large chains and linked to the rising prevalence of obesity. Nature Food. doi:10./1038/s43016-025-01134-x, https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-025-01134-x To read the original article click here.

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