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India has the second highest number of obese children in the world after China, according to a study, which found that 14.4 million kids in the country are over-weight.
Globally, over two billion children and adults suffer from health problems related to being overweight or obese, and an increasing percentage of people die from these health conditions, researchers said.
Of the four million deaths attributed to excess body weight in 2015, nearly 40 per cent occurred among people whose Body Mass Index (BMI) exceeded the threshold.
The findings represent “a growing and disturbing global public health crisis,” according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Among the 20 most populous countries, the highest level of obesity among children and young adults was in the US at nearly 13 per cent; Egypt topped the list for adult obesity at about 35 per cent. Lowest rates were in Bangladesh and Vietnam, respectively, at 1 per cent.
China with 15.3 million and India with 14.4 million had the highest numbers of obese children; the US with 79.4 million and China with 57.3 million had the highest numbers of obese adults in 2015.
The study
The study, which spans 195 countries and territories from 1980 through 2015, includes analyses of other studies on the effects of excess weight and potential links between high BMI and cancers of the oesophagus, colon and rectum, liver, gallbladder and biliary tract, pancreas, breast, uterus, ovary, kidney, and thyroid, as well as leukaemia.
In 2015, excess weight affected 2.2 billion children and adults worldwide, or 30 per cent of all people. This includes nearly 108 million children and more than 600 million adults with BMI exceeding 30, the threshold for obesity, according to the study.
The prevalence of obesity has doubled since 1980 in more than 70 countries and has continuously increased in most other nations.
Although the prevalence of obesity among children has been lower than among adults, the rate of increase in childhood obesity in many countries is greater than that of adults.
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