Researchers Find Obesity Spreading Globally at Alarming Rate

Obesity is spreading around the world at an alarming rate, according to researchers at the University of Rhode Island.

"This places an additional economic burden on poorer countries that they can ill afford," said Marquisa LaVelle, biological anthropologist at URI and organizer of a symposium on the worldwide epidemic of obesity for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 1995, there were an estimated 200 million obese adults and 22 million obese children worldwide. By 2000, the number had risen to 300 million. In developing countries, there are more than 115 million people suffering from obesity-related problems, including type II diabetes, heart disease and obesity-related cancers.

In the U.S., child obesity has increased by more than 1 percent per year over the past 10 years adding up to $99.2 billion in future health care costs, according to the National Institutes of Health.

"We're looking at a ticking time bomb of chronic disease," said LaVelle. "This rapid change cannot be explained by a lack of personal willpower or changes in the human gene pool, because it is happening so fast and has become so widespread.

"Rather the epidemic is part of a century-long trend of increased growth in height, weight and earlier puberty in children that has been associated with transitions to industrialized lifestyles," LaVelle said.

Other sources: University of Rhode Island