Brazil could reach 20 million obese children in 2035 – 02/29/2024 – Balance and Health

Brazil could reach 20 million obese children and adolescents in 2035, according to a projection from the 2024 Atlas of the World Obesity Federation (WOF), released this Thursday (29). The study covers data from 186 nationalities and, according to the authors, shows a pattern in which all countries should be affected by a significant increase in the population’s body mass index (BMI).

The projection warns of an increase in the last decade, including among the poorest nations. In Brazil, weight gain in the children’s segment (from 5 years to 19 years of age) may increase from 34% of individuals with a high BMI in 2019 (the equivalent of 15.58 million young people) to 20, 39 million in 2035.

These values ​​represent a growth of 1.9% per year between 2020 and 2035, a rate very close to that of adults, whose expectation is an increase of 1.8% per year in the same period.

Paulo Miranda, president of the Brazilian Society of Endocrinology and Metabology (SBEM), highlighted, in a note sent by the entity’s advisors, that the new edition of the Atlas brings worrying information in relation to Brazil.

“Especially when talking about excess weight in children, 20 million living with excess weight, and a very impactful projection of diseases associated with obesity, such as changes in glucose, high blood pressure and changes in cholesterol, already known bases for advancement of cardiovascular diseases and early mortality”, says Miranda.

According to nutritionist Carla Irai Ferreira, master of the Child and Adolescent Health Program at USP (University of São Paulo) and specialist in maternal and child nutrition and eating behavior, the growing rates of obesity and overweight are a challenge and are already part of of clinical reality.

“Such numbers reinforce that we need to work on nutritional education for families, to provide a favorable food environment, without nutritional terrorism and providing healthy eating behavior”, reinforces Ferreira.

The nutritionist states that it is necessary for public policies to be implemented in different areas, in addition to food, to overcome these rates, respecting the real possibilities of each family.

The Atlas points out that, once again, the financial investment to combat the problem is urgent and lower than the “cost of not preventing and treating obesity”, which has the capacity to reduce the global economy by more than 4 billion dollars in 2035 —almost 3% of global gross domestic product.

“It makes us reflect and direct attention to actions that will not only prevent, but help children who already live with excess weight to have better health and treatments that are necessary so that they can reverse the situation”, highlights Miranda.

2024 estimates for global levels of high BMI suggest that almost 3.3 billion adults could be affected by 2035 compared to 2.2 billion in 2020. This is an increase from 42% of adults affected by the problem in 2020 to more than 54% in 2035.

On the global average, the number of children and young people affected rises from 22% (430 million) to more than 39% (770 million) in this decade alone.

Alexandre Hohl, professor of Endocrinology and Metabology at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and former president of SBEM, says that the data in the WOF report confirm previous projections and are indeed alarming.

“The number of adults with obesity in Brazil is only growing, but the same unfortunately also happens with children and adolescents. It is necessary to reaffirm that obesity is a chronic and progressive disease. This is the first challenge”, says Hohl.

WOF, formerly the International Association for the Study of Obesity and the Obesity Task Force, is an organization focused exclusively on obesity and a partner with global agencies on the topic, including the World Health Organization (WHO).

Data from different entities were used in the study, such as the United Nations (UN) and RTI International, which calculated the projections.

BMI and preventable deaths

Of the 41 million annual deaths due to chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), 5 million are driven by high BMI (greater than 25). Of these, around 4 million come from comorbidities such as diabetes, stroke, coronary disease and cancer.

“Without major, coordinated action efforts, obesity rates will continue to rise and more people will die prematurely due to obesity or one of the diseases attributable to it. Additionally, obesity-associated NCDs, which were previously only seen in adults, are becoming increasingly common among children”, highlights the report.

A high BMI is directly linked to growing factors such as environmental crisis, urbanization, lack of physical activity and consumption of animal products, compromising the future of generations.

In Brazil, the most worrying rates of weight gain are the increase in the population living in urban centers; high daily consumption of animal protein and insufficient physical activity in adults.

Among children with high BMI, between 2020 and 2035, the total number of cases of high blood pressure is expected to rise from 1.25 million to 1.91 million; those with diabetes from 535.8 thousand to 720.8 thousand and those with high cholesterol from 1.48 million to 2.06 million.

Fighting obesity in children

To combat projections, experts point out that a set of actions and agents involved are needed. “There needs to be a collective understanding that obesity is a disease and that treatment is necessary with a multidisciplinary team”, points out Hohl.

The professor says that food education initiatives in public and private schools need to gain more and more relevance to have a positive effect on numbers, as well as the construction of public outdoor spaces for exercise and sports.

On the nutritional side, Ferreira remembers that urban life often leads families to eat more meals outside the home and dedicate less time to preparation, a culture that needs to be slowed down. “In this way, the consumption of ultra-processed foods is often a large part of families’ routines, offering large amounts of sugar, saturated fats, sodium, among other components”, says the nutritionist.

Screen time also impacts eating. “It leads to a lower perception of what is eaten and how much is eaten, depriving families of quality time, which is as important for a good relationship with food as it is for other areas of life”, assesses Ferreira.

For her, security is another essential issue. “The lack of physical activity is really a challenge, as with the increase in urban violence over the years, children have less opportunity for outdoor activities, leading to an increase in sedentary lifestyle, which contributes to the increase in excess weight “, says the nurse.

To help their children, parents should look for better food options, within the context in which they find themselves, even if it is eating outside the home, how to prepare snacks so that they are not just available for what can be bought on the street and establish the habit of cooking at home and plan to have fresh foods with frequency, variety and quality.

Meals should be eaten without the presence of screens in any situation to control satiety and provide the opportunity to observe the parents’ dietary example. As for physical activities, take advantage of the fact that children in general like to move and organize pleasant moments outdoors throughout the week.