Obesity has reached “epidemic proportions” across Europe, causing 1.2 million deaths a year, according to a report by the World Health Organization.
Almost 60 per cent of adults and nearly one in three school-aged children across the continent are overweight or obese, the WHO’s Europe office warned on Tuesday.
In its first study on overall obesity for 15 years, the WHO said overweight and obesity rates had risen by 138 per cent over the past five decades, with a 21 per cent increase between 2006 and 2016. It said they were at deadly levels and “still escalating”.
The UK ranks high on the list – only Turkey, Malta and Israel have worse obesity rates among their adult populations.
“Overweight and obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions across the region and are still escalating,” said Dr Hans Kluge, the WHO Regional Director for Europe.
Obesity causes more than 1.2 million deaths across the region every year – the fourth highest cause after high blood pressure, dietary risks and tobacco – and corresponds to more than 13 per cent of deaths.
It is linked to a host of diseses, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and at least 13 types of cancer. According to the report, obesity is directly responsible for at least 200,000 new cancer cases annually in Europe, with this figure projected to rise in the coming decades.
It is also the leading risk factor for disability, causing seven per cent of the total years lived with disability.
Having a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 29.9 is classified as being overweight, while 30 or above is defined as obese.
‘Proliferation of sedentary online gaming’
The report authors said fast-food and “cheaper, more energy-dense and less nutritionally beneficial foods,” have driven obesity rates, along with increasingly sedentary lifestyles.
But the WHO cautioned that the causes are more complex than just an unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. It said that “environmental factors unique to living in modern Europe’s highly digitalised societies are also drivers of obesity”, such as online marketing of unhealthy food to children, and the “proliferation of sedentary online gaming”.
Families are also reportedly finding it difficult to exercise, as areas have become more urbanised and distances between home and school, work, and shops have increased, leading to a greater reliance on transportation.
Dr Kluge said reversing the obesity epidemic in Europe was still possible, by creating environments that are “more enabling, promoting investment and innovation in health, and developing strong and resilient health systems”.
Obesity and overweight levels were higher among men (63 per cent) than among women (54 per cent) across the region and in most countries, with prevalence exceeding 70 per cent for males in Andorra, Israel and Malta.
However, severe obesity – classed as a BMI of at least 35 – among women increased threefold in just three years, from 1.5 per cent in 2017 to 4.5 per cent in 2019.
In Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the UK more than 20 per cent of women are estimated to be obese when they become pregnant. Pregnant women with obesity face increased risk of miscarriage, excessive gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, stillbirth and postpartum haemorrhage.
Healthy habit strategies
People living with obesity are also more likely to experience severe outcomes of Covid-19, including intensive care unit admissions and death, the report added.
“Preliminary evidence suggests that many of the restrictions related to containment of the pandemic, including school closures and periods of restricted population movements, have led to an increase in exposure to some of the risk factors that influence a person’s likelihood to experience obesity or overweight,” Dr Kluge said.
The study urged governments to introduce long-term strategies to improve healthy habits. It said other governments should follow the UK – which is set to introduce legislation restricting prominent positioning and multibuy promotions of unhealthy products in October.
It also called for a sugar tax, a ban on online advertising of unhealthy foods to children, and limiting the proliferation of takeaway outlets in low-income neighbourhoods. The report suggested healthy eating should be framed as a “strategy to achieve collective action against climate change”, in a bid to decrease teenage obesity, too.
None of 53 European countries are on track to meet the target of halting the rise of obesity by 2025.
The WHO told the Telegraph: “Unless we can reverse these trends, too many people will continue to die too early in life, or to live their final years with disability. Governments still have an opportunity to help reverse these trends, but the time for action is now.”
The WHO's European region comprises 53 countries, including several in central Asia.
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