The McKinsey Global Institute reported the
worldwide cost of obesity to be 2 trillion dollars annually, or 2.8 percent of
global GDP. Costs from it
are approximately the same as from smoking or armed conflicts making it one of
the three top global burdens. Obesity
is responsible for about 5 percent of all deaths every year worldwide.
2.1 billion people - about 30% of the world's
population - were overweight or obese creating a "steep economic
toll", and the proportion could rise to almost half of the world's
population by 2030. The
financial costs of obesity therefore due to illnesses it is causing.
Although the debate on this issue has become
polarized and sometimes deeply antagonistic, obesity is a complex, systemic
issue. The McKinsey Global Institute report proposes that,
• Existing evidence indicates that no
single intervention is likely to have a significant impact, thus capturing the
full potential requires engagement from as many sectors as possible.
• Education and personal responsibility
are critical elements of any program aiming to reduce obesity. They include
reducing default portion sizes, changing marketing practices, and restructuring
urban and education environments to facilitate physical activities.
The advice usually given to obese individuals
who want to loose weight focuses on consuming fewer calories and exercising
more. The benefits of Mediterranean diet and of such foods as vegetables,
fruits, nuts, fiber and fish, are often also touted. However, mounting evidence reveals
that the most common eating pattern in modern societies of three meals daily,
plus snacks, is abnormal from the perspective of human evolution, a group of
researchers wrote in an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggesting
that intermittent fasting could have benefits.
Ancient hunter-gatherers often ate only
intermittently, and only when they had a successful hunting. This suggests that
the ability to function at a high level both physically and mentally during
extended periods without food may have been crucial in human evolution, and
that the human body may have adapted to perform at its best with intermittent
fasting. Such intermittent
fasting could consist of eating 500 calories or less either two days each week,
or every other day, or not eating breakfast and lunch several days each week,
the researchers said.
