Obesity has outpaced undernourishment to become the leading form of malnutrition worldwide for the first time among children and teenagers, according to UNICEF.
The United Nations children’s agency stated in a report released on Tuesday that nearly one in 10 children aged five to 19 is living with the chronic disease. The epidemic is being fuelled by easy availability of ultra-processed foods “even in countries still grappling with child undernutrition” and aggressive marketing.
Today, “when we talk about malnutrition, we are no longer just talking about underweight children”, UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a statement accompanying the release of the report: “Feeding Profit: How Food Environments are Failing Children”.
“Ultra-processed food is increasingly replacing fruits, vegetables and protein at a time when nutrition plays a critical role in children’s growth, cognitive development and mental health.”
For the first time, obesity has surpassed underweight among school-age children and adolescents globally, reveals UNICEF’s latest report.
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The fight to reduce world hunger is bearing fruit in some areas, with the prevalence of underweight youths on a downward trend, falling from 13 percent to 10 percent between 2000 and 2022 among five- to 19-year-olds, according to data collected in 190 countries.
But over the same period, overweight numbers in the age range soared, more than doubling to rise from 194 to 391 million.
The spike is even more pronounced for obesity, a more serious form of being overweight, associated with metabolic disorders such as diabetes, certain cancers, anxiety and depression.
In 2022, 8 percent of youths worldwide, or 163 million, were obese, compared with 3 percent in 2000.
Given the distinct trends, UNICEF believes “a historic turning point” was reached this year, with the global prevalence of obesity at 9.4 percent for youths surpassing that of underweight, at 9.2 percent.
According to the report, 188 million children and adolescents are now obese.
Unethical
UNICEF bluntly described the primary culprit not as poor nutrition decisions by families, but unethical business practices designed to generate profits.
Children “are being bombarded by … unhealthy food marketing of junk foods”, especially at school where they are exposed to sugary drinks and salty snacks, Katherine Shats, a UNICEF legal expert in nutrition, told the AFP news agency.
Such products are often cheaper than fresh foods like fruits, vegetables and proteins, which are being steadily replaced in families’ diets.
UNICEF stresses the fault lies neither with children nor their families, but “a failure of society to protect the environments that children grow up in”.
Historically, levels of overweight have been higher in more developed nations. They remain high, for example, in Chile, at 27 percent in the age group of five to 19, and in the United States at 21 percent.
But since 2000, the gap between rich and poor countries has narrowed, with obesity rates soaring in some Pacific islands where imports are replacing traditional products.
For some nations, it is a double curse as they grapple with both undernutrition and growing obesity.
UNICEF is urging governments to take binding measures, including advertising restrictions, taxes on sugary drinks and unhealthy foods, and policies that encourage the production of fresh produce.
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