In just thirty years obesity rates have doubled in the world while have been observed decreased levels of blood pressure and total cholesterol.
These are the results of three large studies published in the Lancet in recent days and created by an international team of researchers coordinated by the ‘Imperial College London and the Harvard School of Public Health under the auspices of the World Health Organization.
“This is the first time someone tries to estimate the trends of these major risk factors in each country in the world. The amount of data that we collected is unprecedented for its size and enabled us to reach strong conclusions, “said the coordinator of one of the three studies, Goodarzi Danaei Harvard School of Public Health.
The picture that emerges From the wide research debunks a series of clichés: first, that “overweight and obesity, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia are no longer problems of the West or rich countries. Their presence is shifting to countries with low and middle income, making these disorders in fact become global problems, “said Majid Ezzati, coordinator of the study on obesity and professor at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London.
The data on obesity show that more than one adult in ten in the world is beyond the threshold of obesity. In detail, the 9.8 per cent of men and 13.8 percent of women. Translated into figures means about 500 million people.
The largest increase in body mass index was recorded in Oceania (+1.3 kg / m 2 per decade in men and +1.8 in women). Following the American continent, especially the north. The weight gain is still widespread: only in males of Central Africa there was a decrease in body mass index.
The question changes when you consider hypertension. It is true that the absolute number of people with uncontrolled pressure levels rose from 600 million in 1980 to about $ 1 billion in 2008, but growth is due to increased global population and its aging.
If they are properly “weighted”, it follows in fact a general reduction in systolic blood pressure levels. The descent is stronger in higher-income countries: in North America, there was a decrease of 2.8 mm Hg per decade in males and 2.3 in women, but also Western Europe is no exception: – 2.1 mm Hg per decade in men and -3.5 in women.
A similar case of cholesterol: here again the reduction was widespread, especially in high-and middle-income countries: the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in particular, have seen reductions of 0.23 mmol / L per decade in males and 0.24 in females.
According to Majid Ezzati is encouraging that many countries have managed to reduce the pressure and cholesterol levels despite the increase in body mass index.
The fact that this reduction was most marked in high income countries is likely to provide an explanation: “the improvements in the diagnosis and treatment probably helped to reduce the risk factors in high-income countries, as well as having reduced the consumption of salt and saturated fat, “he added, stressing that these data are not to be put under the mattress:
“These findings are an opportunity to implement policies that encourage more food styles and initiatives that improve the identification and control of these disorders on the part of national health systems.”
Arguments, these will be discussed by the UN General Assembly on non-communicable diseases already scheduled for September 2011.
