The study also unveiled the highest level of obesity among children and youngadults was in the United States at nearly 13 percent while Egypt topped thelist for adult obesity at about 35 percent.
China and India had the most alarming number of obese children with 15.3million and 14.4 million, respectively. Meanwhile, the US with 79.4 million hadthe largest adult obesity figure, followed by China with 57.3 million.
Conducted in 195 countries and territories over a 35 year-period, the research showed that more than 2billion adults and children, or one third of the world’s population, are nowoverweight or obese.
It found that the number of obese people has doubled since 1980 in 70 countriesand continuously increased in most other nations.
In 2015, some 2.2 billion children and adults worldwide were overweight, ofwhich 108 million children and over 600 million adults being obese, said thestudy, adding that the rate of increase in childhood obesity was greater thanthat of adults.
The same year, four million deaths worldwide attributed to excess body weight,according to the research.
The findings represent a growing and spreading a global public healthcrisis, triggering many problems, because obesity leads to risks of cardiovascular disease,diabetes, cancer, and other life-threatening conditions, said the research’sauthors.
The results of the study are based on data from the most recent Global Burdenof Disease study to quantify the magnitude of health loss from all majordiseases, injuries, and risk factors by age, sex, and population. - VNA