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Obesity Statistics: Obese Humans Outnumber Those Underweight For The First Time

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A team of U.K. researchers analyzing population data has found that for the first time in recorded history, the number of obese humans on the planet now exceeds the number of underweight humans.

The researchers behind the study, who were derived from the School of Social and Community Medicine in Bristol and Imperial College London, found that over the course of 40 years, the world has gone from underweight people accounting for more than two times what the obese accounted for to a scenario in which there are now more underweight people than obese.

The countries with the highest average rates of obesity include a few Caribbean countries, Pacific Island nations and a few Caribbean countries as well as those in the Middle East and Northern Africa. And where the U.S. once stood at the peak of obesity, it has since lost its title as the most country on the planet.

But while the United States has lost its status as the most obese country, the health concern remains an issue for many Americans as the country continues to exhibit high levels of obesity.

Obesity, a condition that is characterized by an excessive accumulation of body fat, is defined by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or greater.

In order to reach its findings on the current status of global obesity in contrast to the underweight population, the team of researchers behind the analysis relied upon BMI data dating all the way back to 1975. The data was derived from 186 different countries and covered nearly 20 million adult males and females from 1975 to 2014.

While there are those experts who have brought into question BMI’s utility, study co-author Majid Ezzati, a professor at Imperial College London, told CNBC that when it comes to going “back really far in time, BMI has the most data” and for them, it was a matter of “really” wanting to know where the problem started.

If you want to go back really far in time, BMI has the most data […] we really wanted to know where the beginning of this problem was.

According to the team, whose findings were published on Thursday in the medical journal The Lancet, the combination of obese people from just six countries — the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Ireland — makeup one-fifth of the obese humans in the world.

Professor Ezzati, the study’s lead author, was quoted by BBC as having said that the world is experiencing an “epidemic of severe obesity”.

Among other things, the team’s findings show that the number of obese men has tripled while the number of obese women around the world has more than doubled over the past four decades.

The research also shows that there are now more obese men and women living in the U.S. and China than in any other country. Additionally, the numbers place women in the U.K. at number three on the list of the world’s most obese women based on BMI.

Come 2025, the researchers’ projections show that women in the U.K. are on track to have the highest levels of obesity across Europe. In the U.K., obesity is already considered to be a national threat.

While obesity remains a concern for high income English-speaking countries, the reverse is true for countries such as Bangladesh and India where the issue of being underweight remains a significant health concern.

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