Obesity will reach 39% of Portuguese adults in 2035

aThe data is included in a 2023 report from the World Obesity Federation (WOF), a partner of the World Health Organisation, which predicts an “extremely high” trend in the prevalence of the disease in the coming years.

Thus, the Global Obesity Atlas predicts an increase in obesity of 2.8% annually in the adult population between 2020 and 2035, which rises to 3.5% in the case of Portuguese children.

According to the WOF, health spending with this disease (obesity and overweight) will equate to 2.1% of the national gross domestic product (GDP) in 2030 and 2.2% in 2035, an impact that the organization considers “too high”.

Despite these high prevalence projections, the document states that Portugal is the eighth best prepared country to combat obesity, with a rating of ‘good’ given, and only after Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, France and the United Kingdom.

This national classification WOF has been assigned by the Directorate General of Health (DGS) for the “set of health promotion measures developed”, through the National Program for the Promotion of Healthy Eating (PNPAS).

On the National Day against Obesity, the General Directorate of Food stressed that this “good result in Portugal” is due to measures in the field of healthy eating and physical activity, such as measures aimed at legislation on the “marketing” of unhealthy foods or reducing salt in food, if it is The salt content is maximum in bread.

“It is also worth noting the ability of primary health care units to early identify and respond to diseases associated with obesity, such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases,” the Directorate General said.

The new PNPAS, introduced in March, aims to reduce consumption of unhealthy foods by at least 15% by 2030 and calls for immediate healthy responses “to the scale of the problem.”

According to the document, obesity, as a chronic disease and at the same time a risk factor for other diseases, affects 28.7% of the Portuguese adult population (about two million people), and more than half of the population is overweight (67.6%). ).

Worldwide, the WHO report warns that no country has reported a decrease in the prevalence of obesity in its population and “no one is on track to meet the WHO target” set for mitigating this chronic disease.

“Estimates of global levels of overweight and obesity suggest that more than four billion people could be affected by 2035, compared to more than 2.6 billion in 2020,” he says.

According to the document, these projections reflect an increase in the incidence of disease among the world’s population, from 38% in 2020 to more than 50% in 2035, figures that exclude children under the age of five.

The Atlas also adds that an analysis of 38 studies from 17 countries found that periods of confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an average gain of 1.5 kilograms in adults and adolescents.

In addition to the following indicators from the World Health Organization, the ranking evaluates several criteria and measures that have been put into practice by the 183 countries analyzed, such as coverage and response of health services, premature mortality from chronic diseases and prevention policies implemented.

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