Ireland is on its way to becoming the most obese country in Europe, according to a report in The Lancet.
The study shows that Irish men already have the highest Body Mass Index (BMI) in Europe, with women in third place.
Of all obese adults worldwide, 118 million – a fifth of the total – live in Ireland, the UK, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. These are all relatively highly paid, English-speaking countries.
The report goes on to state that by 2025, 37% of Irish women will be obese and 38% of men will be overweight.
Roughly one in five adults worldwide will be overweight by 2025.
“Over the past 40 years, we have changed from a world in which underweight prevalence was more than double that of obesity, to one in which more people are obese than underweight,” revealed senior author Professor Majid Ezzati, from the school of public health at Imperial College.
“To avoid an epidemic of severe obesity, new policies that can slow down and stop the worldwide increase in body weight must be implemented quickly and rigorously evaluated, including smart food policies and improved healthcare training.”
According to The Irish Times, last year the government rejected suggestions from the World Health Organisation that Ireland would be the most overweight nation in the world by 2030.
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