Obesity could cost global economy as much as malnutrition, warns World Bank

Email this article to a friend

Printable Version

Articles Related to This Article: • DHEA for weight loss: miracle drug or unproven experiment? • The link between monosodium glutamate (MSG) and obesity • Childhood Obesity Initiative Is Same Old Story: Looks Good on Paper, But Kids Keep Getting Fatter NaturalNews Store Specials: • Raw organic Vanilla powder at 40% off • SunWarrior Ormus Greens at 20% off (3-pack) • Revolutionary new Hurom Slow Juicer at the lowest price on the 'net + FREE shipping! • Certified Organic Nutiva Hemp Seeds at a huge discount (+ FREE bottle of hemp oil) See more at the NN store...

(NaturalNews) Malnutrition shaves as much as three percent off the production of some of the poorest countries in the world, but obesity could soon affect economic output as severely as malnutrition, according to findings from the World Bank as of this week.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that obesity has tripled in the past twenty years and in addition, 10 percent of children and 20 percent of adults will be obese in Europe and Central Asia by the year 2010 unless some kind of action is taken.

Dr. Meera Shekar -- senior nutrition specialist with the World Bank -- said that malnutrition cuts two to three percent off of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the hardest-hit countries -- and the growing rate of obesity could do the same. Dr. Shekar says "We suspect that these estimates will be just as high" for obesity.

Six percent of health costs in the WHO's European region already comes from obesity in adults. For example, obesity cost France $6.41 billion in direct costs alone in 2002, while cost the state of California $22 billion in the year 2000, including indirect costs.

As obesity is also expected to reduce life expectancy, it could have a direct impact on the global economy as well. A recent study in Britain forecasted that men would live five years less by 2050 if current trends were not reversed regarding the global obesity problem.

Dr. Shekar said, "The important thing is that because the problem is increasing we would see an increasing drain on economies, particularly developing economies," while adding that obesity had appeared recently in the Middle East and North Africa -- and was turning out to be a big problem in Latin America.

The prevalence of obesity seems to shift to the poor from the rich in developing countries -- and this has happened in France, where obesity is five times more prevalent among low-income groups than high earners according to WHO Regional Adviser Dr. Franceso Branca.

###

Share

Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • DHEA for weight loss: miracle drug or unproven experiment? • The link between monosodium glutamate (MSG) and obesity • Childhood Obesity Initiative Is Same Old Story: Looks Good on Paper, But Kids Keep Getting Fatter	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/021107_obesity_malnutrition_global_economy.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/021107_obesity_malnutrition_global_economy.html">Obesity could cost global economy as much as malnutrition, warns World Bank</a>