For the first time, obesity overtook ‘underweight’ as the primary form of extreme malnutrition affecting children globally, UNICEF has claimed in a new report.
According to the UN’s children organisation, one-in-10 school aged children and adolescents – 188 million youths – is affected by obesity, which UNICEF states puts them “at risk of life-threatening disease”.
The report, titled Feeding Profit: How Food Environments are Failing Children, making use of data from over 190 countries, claims that since the year 2000, the prevalence of ‘underweight’ among children aged 5-19 has fallen from almost 13 percent to 9.2 percent, while over the same time period, obesity rates have increased from three percent to 9.4 percent.
UNICEF states that with the exceptions of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, obesity now exceeds underweight in all regions of the world.
A number of pacific islands were found to have the highest prevalence of obesity in the world.
Almost 40 percent of island nation Nieu’s 5-19 year olds are obese, according to the report, followed closely by the Cook Islands (37 percent) and Nauru (33 percent).
“These levels – which have all doubled since 2000 – are largely driven by a shift from traditional diets to cheap, energy-dense, imported foods,” a spokesperson for the UN organisation said in a press release accompanying the report.
Many wealthy nations continue to see high levels of obesity, with 21 percent of 5-19 year-olds in the US obese, a proportion matched by the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, while ‘undernutrition’ remains a “significant concern” among children under five in many low- and middle-income countries, the prevalence of overweight, as well as obesity, is increasing among school aged children and adolescents.
According to the latest available data, UNICEF says, one in five children and adolescents aged 5-19 globally – or 391 million – are overweight, with a large proportion of that 391 million (188 million) affected by obesity.
Commenting on the report, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said that “when we talk about malnutrition, we are no longer just talking about underweight children.”
“Obesity is a growing concern that can impact the health and development of children. Ultra-processed food is increasingly replacing fruits, vegetables and protein at a time when nutrition plays a critical role in children’s growth, cognitive development and mental health,” she said.
Obesity sees a higher risk of developing insulin resistance and high blood pressure, as well as other serious diseases like type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain types of cancer.
The report targets “ultra-processed and fast foods” that are high in sugar, refined starch, salt, unhealthy fats and additives, describing them as “shaping children’s diets through unhealthy food environments, rather than personal choice”.
According to UNICEF, by 2035, the cost of addressing health- and economic-related impacts brought about by growing levels of overweight and obesity is expected to top $4 trillion per year.