WHO report - weight
- From: califchief@xxxxxxxxxxx (Califchief)
- Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:31:00 -0400
Obesity Pandemic Threatens to Overwhelm Global
Health Systems, Experts Warn at Conference
09-03-2006 7:28 PM
By ROHAN SULLIVAN
SYDNEY, Australia -- An obesity pandemic
threatens to overwhelm health systems around the
globe with illnesses such as diabetes and heart
disease, experts at an international conference
warned Sunday.
"This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is
now engulfing the entire world," Paul Zimmet,
chairman of the meeting of more than 2,500
experts and health officials, said in a speech
opening the weeklong International Congress on
Obesity. "It's as big a threat as global warming
and bird flu."
The World Health Organization says more than 1
billion adults are overweight and 300 million of
them are obese, putting them at much higher risk
of diabetes, heart problems, high blood
pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer.
Zimmet, a diabetes expert at Australia's Monash
University, said there are now more overweight
people in the world than the undernourished, who
number about 600 million.
People in wealthy countries lead in overeating
and not doing enough physical activity, but
those in the poorer nations of Asia, Africa and
Latin America are quickly learning bad habits,
experts said.
Thailand's Public Health Ministry, for instance,
announced Sunday that nearly one in three Thais
over age 35 is at risk of obesity-related
diseases.
"We are not dealing with a scientific or medical
problem. We're dealing with an enormous economic
problem that, it is already accepted, is going
to overwhelm every medical system in the world,"
said Dr. Philip James, the British chairman of
the International Obesity Task Force.
The task force is a section of the International
Association for the Study of Obesity, a
professional organization of scientists and
health workers in some 50 countries that deal
with the issue.
James said the cost of treating obesity-related
health problems was immeasurable on a global
scale, but the group estimated it at billions of
dollars a year in countries such as Australia,
Britain and the United States.
Among the most worrying problems are
skyrocketing rates of obesity among children,
which make them much more prone to chronic
diseases as they grow older and could shave
years off their lives, experts said.
The children in this generation may be the first
in history to die before their parents because
of health problems related to weight, Kate
Steinbeck, an expert in children's health at
Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, said in a
statement.
Experts at the conference said governments
should impose bans on junk food advertising
aimed directly at children, although they
acknowledged such restrictions were unlikely to
come about soon because the food industry would
lobby hard against them.
"There is going to be a political bun fight over
this for some time, but of course we shouldn't
advertise junk food to children that makes them
fat," said Dr. Boyd Swinburn, a member of the
International Obesity Task Force.
Dr. Claude Bouchard, president of the
International Association for the Study of
Obesity, an umbrella group for medical
organizations dealing with weight-related and
children's health issues, said the group
supported advertising bans as official policy.
But the policy position is unlikely to have any
immediate effect on influencing governments to
introduce such bans, said Bouchard, head of the
Pennington Research Center at Louisiana State
University at Baton Rouge.
.... Americans call it fast food because it speeds them to the grave.
.
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