There are now more overweight
people across the world than hungry ones, according
to experts.
US professor Barry Popkin said
all countries - both rich and poor - had failed
to address the obesity boom.
He told the International Association
of Agricultural Economists the number of overweight
people had topped 1bn, compared with 800m undernourished.
Speaking at an Australian conference,
he said changing diets and people doing less physical
exercise was the cause.
Professor Popkin, from the University
of North Carolina, said that the change had happened
quickly as obesity was rapidly spreading, while
hunger was slowly declining among the world's
6.5bn population.
He told the conference at the
Gold Coast convention centre near Brisbane: "Obesity
is the norm globally and under nutrition, while
still important in a few countries and in targeted
populations in many others, is no longer the dominant
disease."
He said the "burden of obesity",
with its related illnesses, was also shifting
from the rich to the poor, not only in urban but
in rural areas around the world.
China typified the changes, with
a major shift in diet from cereals to animal products
and vegetable oils accompanied by a decline in
physical work, more motorised transport and more
television viewing, he added.
And he urged governments to begin
to develop better strategies to combat the problem.
He said food prices could be
used to manipulate people's diets and tilt them
towards healthier options.
"For instance, if we charge money
for every calorie of soft drink and fruit drink
that was consumed, people would consume less of
it. "If we subsidise fruit and vegetable production,
people would consume more of it and we would have
a healthier diet."
And University of Minnesota's
Professor Benjamin Senauer, who has compared lifestyles
in the US, which has high obesity rates with Japan,
which has low rates, agreed.
"The average Japanese household
spends almost a quarter of its income on food
compared to under 14% in the US."
'Cheap food'
While a direct tax on food in
the US to reduce obesity would not be politically
acceptable, agricultural subsidies which resulted
in cheap food could be reduced, he added.
But he said other factors, such
as exercise, also played an important role.
"Japanese cities are based on
efficient public transport and walking. The average
American commutes to work, drives to the supermarket
and does as little walking as possible."
Professor Tony Barnett, head
of the diabetes and obesity group at Birmingham
University, said: "It is becoming increasingly
clear that the number of overweight outnumbers
the malnourished.
"What is also clear is that this
is not just happening in developed countries,
the developing world also has serious problems.
"The biggest increases are being
seen in parts of Asia with certain populations
more susceptible than others. If we do not get
to grips with this, problems associated with obesity,
such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are
going to increase rapidly."
