Without urgent policy reform and action, over half the world’s adult population (3.8 billion) and a third of all children and adolescents (746 million) are forecast to be living with overweight or obesity by 2050—posing an unparalleled threat of premature disease and death at local, national, and global levels, according to a major new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study BMI Collaborators, published in The Lancet.
“Preventing obesity must be at the forefront of policies in low- and middle-income countries,” said Dr Kerr. “Policy action in these regions must balance the challenges of overnutrition with undernutrition and stunting, with interventions ranging from support for nutritional diets and regulating ultra-processed foods to promoting maternal and child health programmes that encourage pregnant women to follow a healthy diet and breastfeed. This is no time for business as usual. Many countries only have a short window of opportunity to stop much greater numbers shifting from overweight to obesity.”
View: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)00355-1/fulltext