The global spread of obesity

January 12, 2000
Web posted at: 1:07 p.m. EST (1807 GMT)

(CNN) -- Figures compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its "State of the World" report suggest that obesity is increasing worldwide and becoming a health problem in many of the same developing nations where malnutrition still exists.

Globally, 1.2 billion people are estimated by WHO to be overweight, about the same number who's living conditions and access to food cause them to be underweight.

Dr. Wilma Friere, of WHO, explained that many people in developing countries leave farms for city jobs, and city life, which involves much less exercise. "Definitely, they change the kind of work they perform; most of the time they (do) more sedentary activities; and they don't have to walk long distances to collect food and water," Friere said.

City dwellers also consume fewer fruits and vegetables. And in some locations, such as Chile, the spread of obesity is bulging children's waistlines too.

"Twenty to 30 percent of school children are overweight and obese," Friere said. At least one cause for Chile's chubby children is all too familiar in the United States. Friere points to "the amount of hours that they spend at home watching television."

WHO officials say they don't quite know what to do about the global spread of obesity because they have no workable weight control strategy to follow. In the United States, for instance, neither the medical community, nor the government, has been successful at combating obesity.

"Except for smoking, obesity is now the number one preventable cause of death in this country. Three hundred thousand people die of obesity every year," said Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former U.S. Surgeon General.

Koop suggested a public health initiative similar to the widespread campaign against smoking. "We're not doing the same kinds of things with obesity that we have done with smoking and alcohol as far as government programs are concerned... It's got to be like smoking, a constant drumbeat," he said.