Wed May 26, 2004 05:34 AM ET
By Patricia Reaney
PRAGUE
(Reuters) - Obesity is a global problem that affects 300 million
people but local policies are needed to control an epidemic
which is likely to get worse before it gets better, a leading
expert said on Wednesday.
Professor Peter Kopelman, president of the European Association
for the Study of Obesity (EASO), believes it could be five or
10 years until the epidemic peaks.
"We need to have strategies at a national and local level
to tackle the immediate problems that every population is facing,"
he said ahead of the start of the 13th European Congress on
Obesity in Prague.
"There are priorities on a national level because people
who are suffering most are largely those that are socially deprived.
It is particular ethnic groups and particular cultures that
seem to be suffering from the medical complications of obesity."
Up to 20 percent of men and 25 percent of women in European
countries are considered obese. Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania
and the Czech Republic have among the highest rates, while the
Netherlands, Norway, Hungary and Switzerland have the lowest.
"What we need to do is target population subgroups to try
and immediately reduce the prevalence of obesity in those groups,"
Kopelman added.
FOOD, ENERGY, GENES, ECONOMICS
High fat, energy dense diets and sedentary lifestyles over the
past 20 to 30 years, along with economic growth, urbanization
and the globalization of food markets have contributed to expanding
waistlines around the globe and have resulted in more than one
billion overweight adults and at least 155 million overweight
children worldwide.
Scientists are also learning more about the role of genetics
and the influence of adipose tissue in the body and how it alters
the energy balance within human beings.
"No one is predestined to become obese but people are certainly
predisposed," said Kopelman.
Targeting people and children with lifestyle measures should
be a priority to stem the problem. People also need to be better
educated about the impact of their diet not only on their waistlines
but on their future health.
"I still don't think people understand the fundamental
causes, nor do they relate increasing weight with potential
dangers, whether it be heart disease or diabetes," he added.
Obesity is linked with an increased risk of certain cancers,
osteoarthritis and other complications.
While local and national strategies focus on people most at
risk of becoming overweight or obesity, Kopelman said international
efforts could tackle the wider issues.
"There need to be coordinated strategies across the globe
because a lot of the problem relates to the manufacture, the
promotion, the production of food, as well as the decline in
physical activity both in the developed and the developing world,"
he said.
Poor countries are faced with what he called a "double
whammy."
"They still have a population that is undernourished and
now also, with increasing affluence and availability of food,
a population that is becoming increasingly obese."
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