The World Health Organization (WHO) says that obesity has increased worldwide by nearly double since 1980 and while many countries are adopting policies and measures to combat the obesity epidemic, a new report attempts to nullify claims of obesity problem in Canada.
In its report "Obesity in Canada: Overstated Problems, Misguided Policy Solutions", Vancouver-based public policy think tank Fraser Institute says that despite reports that Canadians are getting bigger and fatter, the ratio of overweight adults in Canada is virtually the same as it was a decade ago.
The report, which used data from the Statistics Canada, says that there has been no notable increase in the number of overweight individuals in Canada whose body mass index were between 25 and 30 between the years 2003 and 2012 and while the number of obese individuals whose BMI was more than 30 has increased from 15.3 percent in 2003 to 18.4 percent in 2012, the rate has stabilized from 2009 with no significant difference in the obesity rate between 2009 and 2012.
"While there still may be too many expanded Canadian waist lines, the number appears to have stabilized and may even be turning a corner," the report says [pdf]. "Further, health concerns associated with obesity may impact fewer of those with excess weight than is sometimes suggested by advocates of government intervention."
Fraser Institute director of health policy studies and report co-author Nadeem Esmail says that there is no epidemic and that the consequences attributed to excess weight are also exaggerated as studies show that the risks linked to obesity is for those who has BMI of 35 and that individuals with BMI of 25 and 30 even have lower risks of early death than individuals with normal weight.
Health experts, however, said that the report did not consider that obesity is one of the major risk factors for diabetes, which has increased in alarming rates.
"The more obese the person, the greater the risk," said David Lau, chair of diabetes and endocrine research group at the University of Calgary. "To trivialize the importance of addressing the issue of obesity is misguided."
WHO says that at least 2.8 million overweight and obesity-related deaths occur per year. Obese and overweight individuals are more likely to develop certain health conditions including cancer and heart disease.
