Mixed
Global efforts to reduce malnutrition have been more than offset by a rapidly rising obesity burden, resulting in a widening 'double burden' of disease where obesity-related disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) now vastly exceed malnutrition-related DALYs.
Global health strategies must stop treating hunger and obesity as separate issues. As countries develop and reduce starvation, they often swing into obesity epidemics. Effective policy requires a unified approach that ensures food security while simultaneously preventing the shift toward unhealthy, obesity-driving diets, particularly in low-to-middle income regions undergoing rapid economic change.
Progress in reducing disease burden stemming from undernutrition has been shown to have been more-than-offset by rapidly rising obesity-related disease burden... Our projections suggest that the chiasm between malnutrition and obesity will widen further in the coming decade, driven primarily by rising obesity.
Why this rating
Based on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 study, a massive multinational collaborative study using systematic estimates from 204 countries, though it is an ecological analysis rather than a controlled intervention trial.
Source
Trends and predictions of malnutrition and obesity in 204 countries and territories: an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
Bryan Chong et al. · EClinicalMedicine · 2023
DOI 10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101850
More from this paper
- Obesity-related mortality and DALYs are highest in low-to-middle Socio-Demographic Index (SDI) countries, whereas malnutrition burden is concentrated in low SDI countries, creating a distinct geographic and socioeconomic split in the double burden of disease.Good
- Females bear a disproportionately higher burden of malnutrition-related mortality and DALYs compared to males, while males experience higher obesity-related DALYs, indicating sex-specific vulnerabilities in the double burden of disease.Good
Related findings · Mixed
- Bariatric surgery (VSG and RYGB) is the most effective and sustainable treatment for obesity, producing marked and sustained weight loss that non-surgical interventions cannot match.Strong
- Severely protein-deficient diets (2–3% energy) induce lean body mass loss and metabolic imbalance, whereas adequate protein intake (0.66 g/kg/d minimum) is a prerequisite for maintaining muscle, bone, and physiological function.Strong
- For patients with Class III obesity (BMI >39.9 kg/m2), metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS) is significantly more effective than any currently approved medication, with BilioPancreatic Diversion (BPD) showing the highest estimated weight loss.Strong
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