The study, published in the Lancet medical journal, used data from 204 countries to paint a bleak picture of what is being described as one of the century's greatest health challenges.
Nearly 60% of the world's adults and a third of children will be overweight or obese by 2050 if governments do not take action, says a major new study.
The study, published in the Lancet medical journal, used data from 204 countries to paint a grim picture of what is being described as one of the century's greatest health challenges.
"The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental societal failure," lead author Emanuela Gakidou of the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) said in a statement.
The number of overweight or obese people in the world has risen from 929 million in 1990 to 2.6 billion in 2021, the study said.
Without major change, researchers estimate that in 15 years, 3.8 billion adults will be overweight or obese -- or about 60% of the world's adult population in 2050.
The researchers warn that the world's health systems will be under crushing pressure, as about a quarter of the world's obese people are expected to be over the age of 65 by that time.
They also predict a 121 per cent increase in obesity among children and adolescents worldwide.
By 2050, a third of all obese young people will live in two regions - North Africa and the Middle East and Latin America and the Caribbean, the researchers warn.
But it's not too late to act, says study co-author Jessica Kerr of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia.
"Much stronger political commitment is needed to change diets within sustainable global food systems," she said.
That commitment is also needed for strategies "that improve people's nutrition, physical activity and living environments, whether it's too much processed food or not enough parks," Kerr said.
The study said more than half of the world's overweight or obese adults now live in just eight countries - China, India, the United States, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia and Egypt.
While poor nutrition and sedentary lifestyles are clearly driving the obesity epidemic, "doubts remain" about the underlying causes, said Thorkild Sorensen, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen who was not involved in the study.
For example, socially disadvantaged groups have a "persistent and unexplained tendency" toward obesity, he said in a related commentary in The Lancet.
The study is based on data from the IHME's Global Burden of Disease Study, which brings together thousands of researchers from around the world and is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. | BGNES