Obesity shortens lifespans, burdens the healthcare system, and reduces productivity. However, the problem is getting worse as a report says over half the world’s population will be obese by 2035.
Currently, two billion people are obese, according to the World Obesity Atlas. In a little over a decade, that number will double and include 51 percent of the global population, according to the Atlas’ publisher, the World Obesity Federation.
Pandemic Size Impact of Obesity
In 12 years the impact of obesity on the world economy will equal that of the Covid-19 pandemic, predicts the Atlas. That means that by 2035, the planet’s economy will lose $4.32 trillion annually due to obesity. That equals about three percent of the GDP.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that, in the United States, medical costs related to obesity were estimated at $173 billion in 2019. In addition, annual productivity costs from absenteeism resulting from the effects of obesity ranged from $3.38 billion to $6.38 billion annually.
The effects of obesity noted by the CDC include premature death, disability, decreased productivity at work, as well as illness.
Childhood Obesity Rising
Obesity is rising even more rapidly in children than adults, according to the atlas. The increase is most notable in girls.
The increase in childhood diabetes in girls is expected to be 125 percent by 2035. At the same time, diabetes in boys is expected to double.
Processed Foods and Protein Craving
A major suspect in the rise of obesity is processed foods.
A recent Australian study published in the journal Obesity adds to growing evidence that supports that idea.
The study found that people who consumed foods low in protein at breakfast consumed more food over the course of the day. High-processed foods are lower in protein than unprocessed or low-processed foods.
In 2005, researchers suggested that a lack of protein in the diet of those who consume processed foods leads to overeating. The thinking is that our bodies crave protein. As a result, when we do not get enough protein, we overeat fats and carbohydrates.
Modern diets are loaded with processed and refined foods. Those foods are low in protein. That means we have to eat more processed foods to satisfy our protein cravings.
“As people consume more junk foods or highly processed and refined foods, they dilute their dietary protein and increase their risk of being overweight and obese, which we know increases the risk of chronic disease,” said lead author Dr. Amanda Grech, a research fellow at University of Sydney, Australia.
Processed Foods and Weight Gain
A 2019 study by the National Institute of Health and published in Cell Metabolism found that processed foods increased weight gain.
The NIH study monitored 20 participants for 14 days. Half of the group was fed a highly processed diet while the other half ate non-processed foods. In addition, both diets were matched for amounts of carbohydrates, fat, sodium, and sugar.
Those on the highly processed diet gained weight, according to the NIH. Later, those same people were put on a non-processed diet. Consequently, they lost weight.
Call For Government Action
Citing the NIH study, along with other data, Jerold Mande, an adjunct professor at Harvard, has called for government action. He served in both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U. S. Department of Agriculture.
“It is time for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use their authority under federal law to protect us from these highly processed foods,” writes Mande in this month’s Harvard Public Health.
Mande argues that federal law bans any “substance which may render (a food) injurious to health.” Under that law, regulators have policed the food industry to prevent or remove contaminants such as E. coli, salmonella, and toxic chemicals.
Even with federal protection, food contaminants kill about 140,000 Americans per year. However, Mande says 1,600 Americans die each day from “chronic food illness, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.”
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