Anna Lartey IFPRI-FAO conference, "Accelerating the End of Hunger and Malnutrition" November 28–30, 2018 Bangkok, Thailand

1. Overweight and Obesity problem
Overweight and Obesity trends
Anna Lartey
Director of Nutrition
FAO, Rome
29 November, 2018

2. Outline
▪ The Overweight-obesity situation
- Adults
- Children
▪ Conceptual factors driving the obesity situation
▪ Impact on global burden of disease
▪ Global opportunities to reform the food systems for healthy diets
▪ Key messages

3. The Problem
* 1980 - 857 million persons were
overweight or obese
* 2018 - 2.1 billion persons are
overweight or obese
• Unhealthy diets, now fueling the
current obesity pandemic and
increasingly NCDs has turned out to
be the biggest cause of disease and
death for humans in the 21st century.
If significant transformation
is not made in our current
food systems, this would
be the first in human
history when the next
generation would have
shorter life expectancy than
their parents (Gostin, 2018).

4. Chronic child malnutrition (stunting) continues to fall and more infants are being
exclusively breastfed in their first 6 months of life
However, rates of adult obesity and anaemia in women of reproductive age are increasing
3 / 11

5. Global prevalence of overweight (BMI ≥25) and obesity (BMI ≥30) (among
adults aged 18 years and over, 1990-2016
25.3
27.4
29.7
32.2
35.1
38.0 38.5
27.9
29.7
31.7
33.9
36.3
38.7 39.2
4.8 5.7
6.7
7.8
9.2
10.8 11.1
8.6
9.5
10.6
11.8
13.2
14.7 15.1
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016
Prevalence%
Overweight Men Overweight Women Obesity Men Obesity Women
Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration / GNR2018

6. Prevalence of (A) overweight (BMI ≥25) and (B) obesity (BMI ≥30)
among adults aged 18 years and over by region, 2016
28
59
72
30
64
66
43
60
63
30
53
59
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Africa LAC N America Asia Europe Oceania
PEVALENCE(%)
Men Women
A=Overweight
8
20
35
6
22
27
19
28
36
9
23
29
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Africa LAC N America Asia Europe Oceania
PEVALENCE(%)
Men Women
B= Obesity
Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, WHO Global Health Observatory / GNR2018

7. Children and Adolescents are not spared

8. Children under 5 affected by overweight, 1990–2016
6 6 7 7 8 9 9 9 9 9 10 10
17 15 14
14
16 16 16 17 17 17 17 18
4
4 4
4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
0
0
0.1
0.1
0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
MILLIONSOFCHILDREN
Africa Asia LAC Oceania
Source: UNICEF / WHO / World Bank Group: Joint child malnutrition estimates / GNR2018

9. Trends in child and adolescent obesity, ages 5 to 19 years
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
16.0%
-
50.0
100.0
150.0
200.0
250.0
300.0
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Boys obese #
Girls obese #
Girls obesity rate %
Boys obesity rate %
Mens obesity rate %
Womens obesity rate %
Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration / GNR2018
Millions

10. Conceptual factors driving the obesity
epidemic are many

11. Food System
Production,
processing, retail,
consumption ,
disposal
Food
Environment
Availability,
access,
convenience,
desirability for
consumers
Individual Diet
Quality
Diversity,
adequacy, safety
HEALTHY DIETS ARE NOT THE DEFAULT
Food environments are shaped by food systems
Source: Meerman 2015

12. Today’s Food Environments do not enable healthy
choices
One bottle of SSB at $0.20
Medium size watermelon
$2 to $3.00

13. Trends in per capita sales volumes of non-alcoholic beverages,
processed foods and ultra-processed foods by country income group,
2000–2015
Global panel 2016

14. Evolving Food Environments:
Impact of Supermarkets on people’s BMI and risk of NR-
NCD in Kenya
Source: Demmler et al. PLOS ONE 2017

15. Evolving Food Environments:
Impact of Supermarkets on people’s BMI and risk of NR-
NCD in Kenya
Source: Demmler et al. PLOS ONE 2017

16. Food Price indices by food group for India ,
1970-2016 (Source: UNSCN News 42)
(Source: H Bouis, 2017)

17. Postpartum maternal weight change among women in 6 sites
from the MGRS
Median postpartum maternal
BMI patterns by site
Onyango et al. MCN 2011

18. Maternal postpartum
maternal weight change
relative to day 14 by site
Postpartum maternal weight change among women in 6 sites
from the MGRS
Onyango et al. MCN 2011

19. Global risk factors contributing to early deaths
(Source: GBD 2013; Lancet 2015)

20. Global Opportunities to
Reform the food systems for
Healthy Diets

21. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development:
“we pledge to leave no one behind”
Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and
improved nutrition and promote
sustainable agriculture
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote
well-being of all at all ages

22. Aim: To accelerate implementation of ICN2 commitments, achieve Global
Nutrition and Diet-related NCD targets by 2025, and contribute to the
realization of the SDGs by 2030
• The Nutrition Decade is for everybody
• An opportunity to build momentum to fight all forms of
malnutrition
• A time for all stakeholders to take ACTION
• A unique opportunity to work together to end malnutrition
in all its forms

23. IF THE NUTRITION DECADE OF ACTION IS TO BE REALIZED, FOOD
SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION IS NOT OPTIONAL
Use Food Based Dietary
Guidelines to anchor
multisectoral policy action
INCREASE
SUPPLY OF
NUTRIENT DENSE
FOODS FOR
HEALTHY FOOD
ENVIRONMENTS
Diversify
agricultural
production via
shifts in
investment and
agendas
Regulate
advertising to
reduce
misleading
claims
Taxes and other
industry
[dis]incentives to
create healthier
products
Leverage links between food
systems, climate change, and
diets
Empower consumers to make healthy
diet choices through mandatory nutrition
labeling, nutrition education
More data on food availability,
affordability, and individual level
consumption
Empower
women to
create positive
change for
themselves

24. ▪ Overweight and obesity prevalence is increasing in all regions of
the world;
▪ Poor diets are now the underlying factors contributing to obesity
and its associated non-communicable diseases;
▪ Food systems transformation to improve access to healthy diets for
all is key to addressing the rising obesity prevalence;
▪ The UN Decade of Action on Nutrition and the Sustainable
Development Goals provide global opportunities within which to
quickly act.
Key messages