Every 1 out of 10 Members Now Obese

THE GLOBAL prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled since 1980, according to a new study released on Thursday.

More than one in ten of the world's adult population was obese in 2008, with women more likely to be obese than men, according to the study published in The Lancet . An estimated 205 million men and 297 million adult women were obese — a total of more than half a billion adults worldwide.

The study points out that average blood pressure and cholesterol levels have gone up in middle income and poor countries, while they have reduced in rich countries since 1980.

Overall, the proportion of the world's population with high blood pressure, or uncontrolled hypertension, has fallen modestly between 1980 and 2008. Uncontrolled hypertension is defined as a systolic blood pressure higher than 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure higher than 90 mmHg.

However, due to population growth and ageing, the number of people with uncontrolled hypertension has risen from 600 million in 1980 to nearly 1 billion in 2008.

Average levels of total blood cholesterol fell in North America and Europe, but increased in East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific region.

"Our results show that overweight and obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are no longer Western problems or problems of wealthy nations. Their presence has shifted towards low and middle income countries, making them global problems,” said Majid Ezzati of the School of Public Health at Imperial College.