At least one billion people in developing countries are now classified as overweight or obese, a new study recently revealed.
According to DNA India, a recent study in developing countries cited that the number of obese individuals has almost quadrupled into one billion since 1980.
UK think tank, Overseas Development Institute, cited that at least one in three can now be referred to as overweight; thus, they are now urging governments to influence their citizens to adapt a healthier lifestyle.
In the UK alone, about 64 percent of adults are considered obese, according to BBC. The said figure are predicted to have increased risk to heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes.
Meanwhile, researchers found out that the percentage of overweight adults - having a body mass index greater than 25 - jumped from 23 percent to 34 percent between 1980 and 2008.
It was also found out that majority of the increasing percentage can be attributed to people in developing countries such as Egypt and Mexico. Experts believe that the rising income in these countries has significant effect to the prevalence of obesity.
More and more people are shifting their usual diets from eating healthy cereals and grains to binging over fatty and oily animal meat and sugar-filled treats.
The study, which was published in Population Health Metrics, concluded that from 250 million documented obese-classified individuals in 1980, the number has now significantly increased into a total of 904 million in developing countries alone.
Fifty eight percent increases in the number of recorded obese individuals were documented in North Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and in Europe.
Meanwhile, the highest recorded percentage of overweight adults - which is at 70 percent - was documented in North America.
Nevertheless, the greatest growth in obese individuals was found in Southeast Asia, where the number was said to have tripled from 7 percent to 22 percent.
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