Obesity is the abnormal buildup of fat in the body.
In 2016, a scientific study showed that obesity affects 13% of the world’s population, that’s 650 million adults.
Between 1980 and 2016, obesity has more than doubled: so much so that it has become an epidemic!
Causes of obesity may be genetic, handed down from a parent to a child at birth.
But the main cause is the unbalance between the calories consumed and those burned.
We eat too much bad quality food: ready prepared processed dishes, pizzas, sodas,…
The fast food chain McDonald’s sells 2 billion hamburgers around the world every year; that’s 58 hamburgers per second!
In Europe, it’s the British that eat the most hamburgers.
It’s also the British that have a problem with excess weight both in children and in adults.
Obesity is a serious illness that can lead to cardiovascular problems and also diabetes or cancer.
To stop this plague, the World Health Organisation recommends at least one hour of sport a day.
And to eat healthy food, especially fruit, vegetables and leguminous plants.
If obesity continues to grow at the present rate, the WHO has calculated that about 20% of the world population could be obese by 2025.