(14-12-06) The Worldwide Obesity Epidemic is More Harmful Than Malnutrition

Obesity could be as economically damaging, worldwide, as malnutrition, which reduces the production of poorer countries by as much as 3 percent.
Even now, 6 percent of health costs in Europe and Central Asia are a result of obesity in adults. In 1992, obesity cost France $12.1 billion in direct costs alone, and in 2000 obesity cost the state of California $22 billion.
Obesity also reduces life expectancy, which also has an effect on the economy. A recent study predicted that men could live five years less by 2050.
In response to these and other figures, European health ministers from 53 countries have approved the world's first charter to fight obesity, drafted by the World Health Organization.
The WHO charter aims to reverse the trend of increasing obesity by 2015. One of the charter's more controversial clauses is an obligation for legislation requiring private businesses to limit the marketing of fatty, sugary foods to children.
Obesity has tripled over the course of the last 20 years, and 10 percent of children and 20 percent of adults will be obese in Europe and Central Asia by 2010 if present trends continue.

Source: Yahoo News November

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