MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Obesity in Europe has reached “epidemic proportions”

Obesity in Europe has reached epidemic proportions and its prevalence has tripled in the last two decades while millions are ill-fed, according to the World Health Organization meeting in Copenhagen.

"If no action is taken there will be an estimated 150 million obese adults (20% of the population) and 15 million obese children and adolescents (10% of the population) in the Region by 2010" underlines WHO adding that in most countries today, between 30% and 80% of adults are overweight.

According to WHO people's eating habits have changed significantly in recent decades as more food becomes available and is cheaper than ever before. However the "nutrition transition" is characterized by a shift from a diet featuring grains and vegetables to one high in fat and sugar.

As a result, the challenge of preventing and reducing the incidence of overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases is becoming urgent throughout the European Region. Yet at the same time, food insecurity and under nutrition remain important issues to tackle in some countries, and among low-income/vulnerable groups in many others.

Children's health and wellbeing depends on their having the best possible nutritional start in life and breastfeeding from birth and for the first month of a child's life is the established practice in most countries in the Region. Nevertheless, despite high initiation rates, exclusive breastfeeding rates drop very quickly.

And when breastfeeding is replaced by complementary foods of a poor nutritional quality, "infants are at risk of growth retardation (stunting) and micronutrient deficiency". WHO points out that growth retardation is still prevalent in many countries in the Region, particularly in the central Asian republics, Azerbaijan and rural Turkey, where it affects up to 43% of children under five years.

Deficiencies in micronutrients such as iron, iodine, vitamin A and folate are widespread. Iron deficiency affects children's brain development and is a major cause of anemia. It has increased in the central Asian republics and is also a concern in the other former Soviet republics, where 32-70% of children under five are affected by iron deficiency anemia. A total of 435 million people in the European Region are affected by iodine deficiency, which causes mental retardation and brain damage in children and miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women.

But food insecurity not only affects countries in central and Eastern Europe, central Asia and the newly independent states, which account for 23 million undernourished people in the Region. "Food deserts" also exist in poor communities in Western Europe.

The supply of sugar, vegetable oil and meat exceeds the needs of the European population, but only a few countries are able to provide sufficient fruit and vegetables for the entire population. In most countries of the region, obesity is more common among socially deprived communities characterized by lower levels of income, education and access to care.