AEDESA

Fighting obesity would boost the global economy and well-being 

  16/03/2020 12:46


OCDE just published a new inform where indicates that, in the next 30 years, diseases related to obesity will cause the death of 90 million of people. Furthermore, its increase will reduce GDP by 3.3%, becoming a heavy burden on family budgets (US $ 360 per capita).

The document of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE) reveals that, nowadays, more than half of the population suffers overweight in 34 of 36 OECD countries and almost one out of 4 people is obese. Average rates of this disease in adults in member countries have increased from 21% in 2010 to 24% in 2016, which means that not only has it not decreased, but there are 50 million more obese people.

Underage are paying a high prize for obesity. Children that suffer overweight shows a worst academic performance in school, they tend to skip school and, once they grew, they are less likely to finish higher education. Furthermore, they show less satisfaction with life and they are up to three times more likely to suffer bullying, which in turn can lead to lower academic performance.

On the other hand, adults have a higher risk of suffering chronic diseases, like diabetes, and they also have a shorter life expectancy. In 28 of the UE countries, men and women in the lowest income group are 90% and 50% more likely to be obese, respectively, compared to those located in the highest income group, helping to consolidate inequality. People that suffer at least one chronic disease related to overweight are 8% less likely to be employed the following year. In case they have a job, they are 3,4% more likely to be less productive or less productive.

Angel Gurría (OCDE general secretary), pointed that “There exists urgent economic and social reasons, to scale up investments to fight obesity and promote healthy lifestyles. These findings clearly shows the need for better social, health and educational policies that help people to get a healthier life. By investing in prevention, policy makers can curb the rise of obesity in future generations, thus benefiting economies. There are no excuses for inaction. "

Experts indicates that investing in initiatives like better food labelling in stores or regulation of advertising for unhealthy baby food can lead to huge savings. Each US dollar invested in obesity prevention would generate an economic return of up to six. Currently, OCDE countries dedicates 8,4% of their total health budget to treatment of obesity- related diseases. This figure is roughly equivalent to 311.000 million US dollar or 209 US dollar per capita per year. Obesity is behind 70% of all diabetes-related treatment costs, 23% of cardiovascular disease and 9% of cancer.

A 20% reduction in the caloric content of high-energy-dense foods, such as potato chips and confectionery products, could prevent up to a million cases of chronic diseases per year, and especially cardiopathies. Initiatives targeting the general population, such as the presentation of nutrition information on food and menus and media campaigns, could save the lives of between 51,000 and 115,000 people by 2050 in the 36 countries included in the analysis. This would be equivalent to preventing all road traffic accidents deaths in the 28 EU countries and in the OECD countries, respectively. The economic savings would also be very important, and just food labelling would save up to 13.000 million of dollars between 2020 and 2050.




Source: Munideporte

Publication date: December 23 of 2019

Website: http://munideporte.com/seccion/Actualidad/73683/Combatir-la-obesidad-impulsaria-la-economia-y-el-bienestar-mundial.html



More information:

New Health Foundation
www.new-health.eu
info@new-health.eu

AEDESA
https://www.aedesa.org/
info@aedesa.org

image

image


 

AEDESA

Asociación Europea Deporte, Ejercicio y Salud