Experts expect heavier obesity burden on the world, call for action

By 2010, more than half of children living in the North and South America will be overweight, a report says. These numbers shatter previous estimates that projected that one-third of children in this area would be affected by the end of the decade. In “Worldwide trend in childhood overweight and obesity,” published in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, researchers analyzed various medical reports on obesity from 1980 to 2005 and World Health Organization data.

The findings paint a similarly grim picture for the rest of the world. Often thought to be the problem of the Western hemisphere, the European Union may also see gains in the percentage of overweight children from 25 to 38 percent, the study says. Other significant increases will occur in the Middle East and Southeast Asia as well as Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Egypt, populations that were previously thought to be isolated from the marketing influence of the Western world’s food industries.

If these trends continue, obesity experts predict a growing wave of health problems, including heart disease and stroke, that will swamp the health care industry.

“This is going to be the first generation that’s going to have a lower life expectancy than their parents,” says Phillip Thomas, a surgeon from Manchester, England, told The Associated Press. “It’s like the plague is in town and no one is interested.”

Some scientists are calling for the government to step in and protect consumers. Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force told the AP that there needs to be a ban on all forms of junk food marketing, saying that all of the world’s children are being bombarded to eat all the wrong foods.

Other suggestions to curb obesity come from studies on empty-calorie beverages. These researchers advise placing a “fat tax” on unhealthy foods and beverages, restrictions on how and where the items are sold and warning labels on soda cans similar to warnings on packs of cigarettes.

Critics from the beverage industry question the direct comparisons that tie soda to obesity in a way similar to linking tobacco with certain cancers, but more research suggests parallel trends that draw distinct connections between the obesity epidemic and sugar-based drinks.

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The International Journal of Pediatric obesity is a new peer-reviewed quarterly journal devoted to obesity research; its first publication came out in March 2006. It is owned by the International Association for the Study of Obesity and will offer helpful studies on the threat of the obesity epidemic in the future. The abstract of the study can be found online.