According to predictions made by the World Health Organization, three out of every four men and two for every three women in the United Kingdom will be considered overweight by 2030.
Obesity and overweight rates will continue to grow across Europe, suggesting that efforts at improving diet and curbing fat and sugar intake are not having their intended effect. In Ireland, one of the worst-performing countries in the continent, it is predicted that nearly all of the adults will be overweight within the next 15 years. The U.K. remains in the top third.
Overall, the WHO showed that 74 percent of men and 64 percent of women in the U.K. will be overweight by 2030, based on body mass index measures. These figures are up from 2010 numbers, where 70 percent of men and 59 percent of women were projected to have BMIs over 25.
In Ireland, it is predicted that up to 89 percent of men and 85 percent of the country's women will be overweight by 2030.
Other countries seen to have problems with controlling weight include the Czech Republic, Austria, Spain and Greece. Even Sweden is looking at growing figures, despite traditionally recording low obesity prevalence.
João Breda, from the Copenhagen regional office of the WHO, said that while the forecasts were only an exercise, meaning they should be taken with caution, they convey two messages: that an improvement is needed in gathering overweight and obesity data in countries and that better efforts are needed at tackling and preventing overweight and obesity cases.
Some of the suggestions to aid in dealing with obesity include: restricting marketing of unhealthy food, imposing taxes on less healthy food and making healthier food items affordable. Better labels and cutting back on sugar content are also seen as important steps in curbing obesity.
Societal changes may also have a hand in proving the WHO's predictions wrong. According to the National Obesity Forum's Tam Fry, declining living standards force people to eat unhealthily.
"The less well-off haven't got the money to buy the good food ... and are ever more reliant on processed foods," he explained.
Though in the minority, some countries will have the same or decreasing rates of overweight and obesity. One of them is Holland, which is projected to have less than 50 percent of its men overweight by 2030, down from 2010's 54 percent.
Photo: Ingo Bernhardt | Flickr
